Mountain View Heritage Day
July 12, 2010

As the school year came to a close this past June, students at Mountain View Elementary School enjoyed a special opportunity to learn about the heritage and diverse cultural backgrounds of the school’s faculty and staff at the first Heritage Day event. The school’s Social Studies/Multicultural Committee developed the idea for this event with assistance from Victor Martin, supervisor for the School Division’s Office of Multicultural Education. For a week, the Mountain View morning broadcast, "Cougar Connection," presented slide shows telling the origins, customs, and hobbies of bus drivers, cafeteria staff, custodians, office staff, teachers, teacher assistants, and the administration.

As a culminating event, presentations were given by many staff members demonstrating childhood memories, hobbies, and places of interest.

Kindergartners and first-graders were treated to a musical performance from Principal Kirsten Fisher who played her Aboriginal didgeridoo, and Assistant Principal Megan Barton talked about life on a farm in Indiana. The children also saw pictures of what the Piedmont community looked like before the homes were built, and they heard about life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, courtesy of Casey Mihalko, kindergarten teacher, and Sheri Ross, kindergarten assistant.

Students in second and third grades learned about living on a ranch in Texas and life in Jamaica. They sang scouting action songs led by the second-grade team of Mary Fitzpatrick, Nancy Perrin, Julie Vlach, and Terri Costello.

Fourth- and fifth-graders watched and participated in the art of Appalachian clogging, a hobby of Mountain View’s instructional technology resource teacher, Terry Guiffre. They also heard about life in the countries of Jordan, Cambodia, Greece, Thailand, Japan, and the states of Michigan, and Alabama.