Schools across America have expirienced Bring your Kid to Work Day, but how about Bring Your Dad to School Day? That's a tradition at Brundrett Middle School in Port Aransas that started back in 2015. It's been going on for eight years, minus missing one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I feel like a lot of times the dads are always at work. Or the dads can’t quite be there for everything that a lot of times most of our moms can be there for. So, this is something where if you advertise it ahead of time, they can get off of work. They can come and join us for a few hours," James Garrett, the Principal of Brundrett Middle School Principal James Garrett said.
The day was not full of lessons and tests, but instead, it was full of Christmas arts and crafts, dodgeball games, basketball games, a shared lunch, escape rooms, and Kahoot games. One father-daughter duo in particular, Charles Crawford and his daughter Ellie, had a rather sentimental "Dad's Day."
“I was talking to another dad today. With this being her last year here in the middle school, and having been part of this, that we’re wanting to stay the whole day, through the whole day. Knowing that this is probably the last time I’ll be doing this with her. So, I’m just enjoying the whole day in total," Charles Crawford, the father of student Ellie Crawford, said.
What really made this day a "full-circle moment" for Charles is that he walked those same hallways of Brundrett Middle School in 1984 when he was a 7th grade student there himself.
“It’s awesome. It’s just, we all know each other. We’re just glad to be here. We’re so proud of our kids," Charles said.
During the first half of the day, the dads and students switched between different classrooms doing several arts and crafts and interactive collaborative games. Then, the dads and students all ate lunch together in the cafeteria.
“He participated in the art room where we drew snowmen, gingerbread man, gingerbread houses, an escape room, Kahoot," Brundrett Middle School student Ellie Crawford said.
But the real action happened when the dads challenged the students to a competitive dodgeball match in the gym. When neighborhood News Reporter Erin Holly asked Ellie, an 8th grader, what her favorite part of the whole day was, she jokingly said:
“Watching the dads play dodgeball, seeing what hurts after the dads throwing the dodgeball."
But Charles on the other hand, was just happy to be attending his second 'Dad's Day' at the school.
“This is a great event. This is our second year to do it. We did it last year when she was in seventh grade," he said. "There's a lot of activities for us today and it's just a lot of fun."
Principal Garrett said it's a tradition he hopes to continue holding on the last day of the semester before holiday break, for as long as he can.
"We had about sixty-three dads sign up. It's just a great way to highlight the end of the year. But it's also just a great way to bring in community support and so we're glad to do it," he said.
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