On December 13th, students in Avon donated more than 14,000 dollars to help put Christmas presents under children’s Christmas trees. The presents go to underprivileged children who can’t afford them. Donating toys on Christmas is a tradition in Avon Old Farms run by a student partnering with the local organization Hands.
It began three decades ago with just faculty members donating toys to Sullivan's O'Neills Chevrolet Buick, and they got the students involved in 2014. With the money collected, students and teachers went to a local Target store to spend all the donated money and shopped for presents they wanted to give to various children: boys and girls at a young age. Students bought toys, clothes, and sports goods.
Coming back from a store, students displayed the toys in Brown Auditorium for the last morning meeting before winter break to see students' effort and greet the community. Also, in the morning meeting, picked randomly from students who volunteered in buying gifts received little presents from the school such as signed baseball, squash racket, and gift cards.
After the morning meeting, students and teachers with first-period free help deliver the Christmas presents to the local organization Hands on Hartford annual Christmas party.
Parents came and chose presents for their children, waiting to see the gifts under the trees on Christmas. Avon Old Farms School provided presents to 130 families and more than 200 children this year.
On the same day, students had a Boar's Head Festival. The Boar's Head Festival begins with one of the faculty members reading the boar's head tale in the morning meeting. The main part of the festival begins when students and faculty members gather at Riddle refractory, where students eat their meals for dinner.
Along with Christmas songs by Riddlers, the best choral group in AOF, students and faculty members eat steak dinner with a dessert of figgy pudding.
After the dinner, seniors do Mummers' play. Each year, seniors gather and design a mummers' play. The play was funny, with seniors wearing dragons, knights, and witches' costumes. Students leave at the end of the play, and winter vacation starts.
Jeongwoo Choi
Grade 11
Avon Old Farms School