WOODLAND, Maine — Students at the Woodland Consolidated School celebrated woodchuck day Monday by hurling miniature logs outside in frigid temps in honor of their mascot the woodchuck.
For the past three years chucking wood has become a fun tradition for Woodland students who replace phys ed time with a friendly competition and a show of school spirit.
Principal Susie Schloeman, sporting her ritual fuzzy woodchuck costume, explained all grades, pre-K through eighth, gather outside in shifts throughout the day to participate in the Woodchucking Contest, followed by some delicious woodchuck cake at lunch time.
“It’s really a tradition and we want to keep it going. It’s fun and challenging,” Schloeman said.
Erin Tateishi-Ouellette’s first-grade class made their way down a hallway plastered in crayon covered woodchuck drawings before launching chunks of wood with the assistance of principal Schloeman and the hope of landing it within a painted circle on the ground.
“I always try to encourage our students before we have wood chucking day to help around the house and pile wood so they can build up their strength,” Schloeman said.
Grades five through eight go for distance and attempt to see who can throw each log the farthest. All contests are girls versus boys leaving a top girl and boy for each grade level.
In the past, principal Schloeman had her staff bring in the wood, but this year she volunteered the lumber for the competition. She says she was inspired by a television commercial for the wood chucking contest and said it was something to build up before the school’s Winter Carnival, scheduled this year for March 7th.
Taking top honors in this year’s Woodland Woodchucking Contest 2015 were: kindergarten, Seth Donais and Taylor St. Peter; grade 1, Noah Cannon and Eleanor Rothlauf; grade 2, A.J. Rossignol and Vivienne Prashaw; grade 3, Keanen Masse and Addison Trombley; grade 4, Cody Ellis and Jasmine Berry; grade 5, Dominick Crouch and Jasmine Green; grade 6, Damien Douglass and Madison Zeigler; grade 7, Bryant Hayes and Alexis Parker; and grade 8, Wyatt Taggett and Monica McLaughlin.
Woodland Consolidated School, established in 1951, once home to over 240 students prior to the closing of Loring Air Force Base, currently has 119 students in pre-K through eighth grade.
