Fort Dodge Community School District

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Flips, Tricks, and Applause: FD Schools Celebrate Last Day - from The Messenger

May 29, 2021

Plenty of talent and games were on display at Fort Dodge schools on Friday as students and staff closed the book on another academic year.

At Duncombe Elementary School, students showed off their skills with soccer tricks, singing, dancing, gymnastics and even a game show.

It was all part of the school's talent show.

Whether it was singing or dancing, the song "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus was a clear favorite of the students.

Drake Brookshire, 7, a first-grader, performed a rendition of the popular country rap tune.

Brookshire held the microphone close to his mouth as he sang the words, "I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road."

J'Korion Knight, 6, rolled out the crash mat to perform some gymnastics. The crowd seemed to think his headstand was on point.

JaeBrielle Wilson, 9, a second-grader, drew a flower to show the audience.

Airizona Worrick, 8, also in second grade, showed off her flexibility by demonstrating the splits.

Jazarra Huff, 8, and Janica Clark, 7, both in second grade, brought their teacher in on the fun.

The two girls were joined by Tricia Dohrn for some sassy dancing.

Meanwhile, Butler Elementary School had a flurry of activity with everything from bean bag toss and a bouncy house to Kan Jam and a tennis ball race.

Kan Jam involves a disc. The object of the game is to throw the disc into a can with a small slit on it. For the tennis ball race, students had to do a combination of hopping, skipping and walking backwards from their starting spot to the other side. Once there, they place the ball in a bucket and run back. The first team to get all of the balls in the bucket wins.

Isaiah Taylor, 9, a fourth-grader, was enjoying a game of bean bag toss. At one point, he broke out in a dance as music played over the loud speaker.

Harmoni Owens, 8, a second-grader, had the rock climbing figured out. And her fellow students cheered her on every step of the way.

Cold and rainy conditions forced some of the planned outside activities to be moved inside.

The tennis ball race remained outside, and some students weren't fans of the decision.

"It's freezing out," one student said.

With temperatures in the 40s for most of the day, the conditions were a little brisk.

And while a lot of the games were high-energy, Emily Winninger, a special education teacher, said she had a group of students who were perfectly content hanging out in the library and reading books.

"It's nice and quiet in here," she said.

She did take the students out for some sidewalk chalk, but the weather kind of put a damper on it.

Winninger said the year went too fast.

"It does not feel like the end of school at all," she said.

At Fort Dodge Middle School, excitement was in the air as the clock approached 12:55 p.m.

Students and staff lined up on the sidewalk just south of the school to applaud the eighth grade class as they were dismissed.

It was a continuation of a tradition that started a few years ago to send off the eighth graders as they will go to the high school next school year.

As the last eighth-graders walked by giving high fives to younger students, one staff member was hesitant to say it was over. That's because the rest of the grades were to go back to class.

"I'm afraid of what will happen when I say, 'Go,'" she said.

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