Sep 24, Saturday

Dover Days Shout-Out

Glorious weather and a town full of families eager to connect helped make Dover Days a fantastic event last weekend. 

For the PTO, the day was particularly successful: under the leadership of veteran Rebecca Kovrlija, Aoife Brennan, and Katie Hennessey, the PTO booths and games were wildly popular, attracting happy crowds and raising over $700 for the PTO. 


"Participation was incredible," says organizer Rebecca Kovrlija.  "So many outstanding people did so much.  Jimmy Wallace loaded and stored fair supplies in his truck, driving out to Taylor Rental for more goodies. Alan Moss spent the entire day doubled-over to meet the skee ball requirements of 8-year olds.  And recent Chickering graduates return year after year to volunteer." 


Rebecca has organized the event for the past two years and brought remarkable enthusiasm to the task, coordinating 40 volunteers.  Here are some of her favorite observations about this year's Dover Days volunteers:


o    kids laughing as Kevin Ban and his new puppy entertained them at the basketball game;
o    a 4th grader arrive early to get involved in planning the best way to execute his game;
o    parent-student, buddy-buddy, and even sibling teams help run the games;
o    future Chickering parents (that's right, families whose kids are not even yet in the school!) volunteering their time; and
o    Karl Johnson jumping in to load up the truck at the day's end, when most others were fatigued.  


The PTO's Dover Days effort was great for community-building, pointed out Aoife Brennan; "It was valuable for parents to get together, interact with the kids, and let others in town know about the Dover PTO."

Rebecca's Dover Days team put together a day that was meaningful -- and FUN!   Over 1,720 games were played in just three hours, and hundreds of prizes were distributed.  And, oh, the agony of choosing a prize; it's so hard to pick! 

"Dr. Nugent and Chickering's math team be proud to see the kids employ their math skills figuring how to maximize their prize pay-out," one parent observed.