Freehold Township High School’s very own Octagon Club took part in a Howell Griebling Elementary school event on Friday, October 14th. The Octagon Club is a volunteer-oriented club that provides students the chance to go out into the community, help others, receive service hours all while enjoying themselves doing so.

Griebling Elementary School was holding their Kindergarten Orientation. Children from the kindergarten class of 2022, were invited, along with their families, to attend this school social. This was an opportunity for all the Kindergarten “Bulldogs” (Griebling school mascot) to have fun and play with their friends outside of class.

When the students first entered the cafeteria after going through signing in, they were ready to accomplish all of the exciting activities set up for them. With their name tags on, it was easy for Octagon volunteers to interact and help the students throughout the night.

The children all signed a poster hanging up on the wall. Being that the event’s theme was rock-n-roll, the poster read, “Kindergarten Rocks”. By the end of the night, the poster was covered in colorful autographs by all of the students. They were also given the chance to make crafts. They could color and decorate guitars and picture frames. Given the options of different colors, markers vs crayons, and the huge variety of stickers; the craft table was a much more time-consuming activity yet was a chance for the students’ creativity to show.

There were different games for students to play and win prizes in. Some games being bowling, a ring toss, bean bag toss and a remembering game. After playing, the children could pick their choice out of toys, pencils, erasers, stickers, sunglasses and much more.

Face painting was a major hit of the night. All children wanted to have their face painted with paintings such as clowns, butterflies, crowns or pretty much anything their hearts desired. Right next door to face painting was the tattoo station which gave the children the chance to get matching tattoos for their paintings or just any tattoo that they liked.

Once having received their face paintings and tattoos, getting their photo taken was a great next choice. The event had a “photo booth” set up with a background along with many different props and frames to chose from.

Throughout the night, snacks were provided for children and their families. There was pretzels, popcorn and munchkins to snack on. Later in the event, the Kindergarten’s class cake was cut and distributed to the people.

Once haven played their games, made their crafts, and ran around a bit with friends, it was time to settle down. Having sat down now with their cake, the children were all ready to pay attention to Ms. Nancy Rupp. Ms. Rupp is Griebling Elementary School’s principal and she was eager to sit down with the children to read them a story. She had read “The Twelve Days of Kindergarten” as the children were intrigued and following along with the story.

As the night came to an end, goody bags were passed out to the kindergartners as a final treat. The Octagon club had a great time working different stations throughout the night as they helped the students unite together with their Kindergarten Class of 2022 as they embark on their educational journey together.