A note on the force of nature that is third graders

A competition occurring at Riverside Intermediate School’s Hooray Day 2024. Photo credit: Manchester Community Schools.

Editor’s note: In communicating with Joan Gaughan for the article on this year’s Peacemaker Award, she included such a colorful description of the students entering the gymnasium for the End of the Year Assembly (which also happens to be Hooray Day) that it was worthy of publication even if it didn’t quite belong in the Peacemaker Award article for tonal reasons. Here it is extracted:

by Joan Gaughan 

Barry Allen and I were sitting by ourselves in the gymnasium this morning before things got going. Just the two of us having a quiet, serene, adult conversation about adult-ish sorts of  things. Suddenly there was a veritable storm of third graders. Little short things all wearing green T-shirts. And they weren’t exactly running, but they for sure weren’t walking either. The English language has no verb for the gait they had assumed. But whatever it was, it was quite elastic and altogether unusual. And they were rather loud and terribly bubbly. And the energy they were emitting was altogether terrifying.  Not that there was any real danger in it, but it was not at all what one expects to see in broad daylight … like a swarm of miniature tooth fairies or flying kittens or a cloud of bubblegum wrappers. A bit alarming, of course. At least until a swarm of other miniature people, the fourth graders, descended. And then the third grade miasma looked rather sedate … almost comatose.

I firmly believe that the dysfuntionaries in Congress could quickly settle their differences if they were threatened with a storm of third graders. And it would probably even make Mr. Putin’s knees turn to jelly.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.