MONROE, Conn. — Children slid down inflatable slides in the Stepney Elementary School gymnasium and jumped around in the bounce houses, while others played games, made crafts and had their faces painted in the hallways during the 11th annual Stepney Winter Carnival Saturday.
“It’s one of the only events for families with school-aged children during the winter months,” Theresa Oleyar said, “and it’s open to the public, so it’s nice to be able to have all the Monroe families at Stepney.”
Oleyar, Kate Briggs and Mary Ingram are chairs of the Stepney PTO sponsored event, which raises money for supplemental educational expenses at the school.
“We have a lot of Stepney alumni that come back every year,” Oleyar said, adding with a smile, “they want to come back to their school. Most of the games are made by parents.”
Oleyar said eight teachers signed up to volunteer for the carnival this weekend.
Among the entertainment, Donald M. Casey Jr., a reading teacher at Stepney, as well as a member of the Pyramid Shrine Temple Clown Unit, was among the clowns twisting balloons into animals for the children.
Principal Bruce Lazar, gym teacher Brian Dias and teacher Britta Bengston volunteered to be pelted by whipped cream pies thrown by the children in the afternoon.
SES Carnival Slideshow
The following slideshow does not have captions, but it includes:
Jake Ehmke, 11, going down a slide;
James Castaneda’s daughters, Madeleine, 8, and Elise, 5, having their faces painted by Samantha Cornut, as well as a family photo;
Alex Pyle, 9, doing the Ball Bounce;
Gavin Murphy, 5, playing Skee-Ball as his twin brother, Declan, watches. Lauren Guo and Mary O’Connor, two Masuk High School students, volunteered at the table;
Friends, from left, Lily Briggs and Lucy Oleyar, both 5;
In other photos, brother and sister, Alexander, 9, and Karina, 6, Samudosky, throw darts at balloons under the watchful eye of volunteer, Mia Cassone, whose mother is a teacher at Stepney.
