![WSPN’s Annika Martins and Maddie Zajac explore the athletic life of senior Annabelle Zhang through her badminton career. “This [photo] is me and my former partner after we won the 2022 junior nationals mixed doubles category,” Zhang said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_6629-1200x900.jpg)
On Friday, March 1, the Claypit Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) will host a welcome event for the families of students who are new to Claypit Hill Elementary School. The event will take place in the school’s gymnasium from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.. This year is the first year that this event is happening.
The welcome event is exclusively for Claypit families. The PTO aimed for the event to consist of a smaller group of people in order to ensure that the new Claypit families felt comfortable and welcome.
“It became clear that, sometimes, some of the large school-wide events can be overwhelming, particularly for people who are really new to the community and don’t know that many people yet,” Claypit PTO president Elizabeth Wuerz said. “So we decided that a good response to that would be to specifically welcome them and tailor an event to new community members.”
Each school year, new students and parents join Wayland Public Schools. The Claypit PTO designed this welcome event for new families to meet with current families, and for new kids to meet current kids before they enter the classroom.
“The goal for this event is to give kids the opportunity to play and get to know each other,” Wuerz said. “We’ll have some games, crafts and activities for them. [There will] also be an opportunity for parents to stand on the side and chit-chat and get to know each other as well.”
To ensure that the event will run smoothly, the Claypit PTO needs volunteers. The Claypit PTO reached out to Wayland High School students through an email sent on Monday, Feb. 26 to recruit volunteers to help with the event. Volunteers will earn community service hours for their help during the event.
“For this event we are looking for students to help staff a welcome table and then help with some of the crafts and games for the kids to interact with,” Wuerz said. “[We want] parents to feel more comfortable being able to chat with each other, and get to know each other, as opposed to focusing solely on tending to their children.”
