By Thomas Sellers Jr.
On April 8, the Millington Central High School Gymnasium transformed into a carnival. The games and activities were all for the SPED students of MCHS, Millington Middle School, Arlington High School and Bartlett Freshman Academy.All school year the teachers, assistants and faculty have prepared for the annual Spring Fling. The event was started by now MCHS Assistant Principal Beth Hale more than 10 years ago as a way to showcase the department and give the children a day of educational fun. Now the tradition is in the hands of instructors like Christy Withers and Katie Niemann. “Spring Fling is important for our students because its hard for them to learn social skills,” Niemann said. “They are trying to learn social skills by making friends and getting out in the community and doing recreation-like activities. “So we try to teach them those skills throughout the school day,” she continued. “So this is the big activity that wraps up all that we’ve taught them throughout the year about being involved in the community and learning to do recreation. We get a chance to have fun in the community, the right way. We get to support all those things.” The fun came courtesy of E.A. Harold Elementary donating the carnival stations of game items. As students took on the challenges of each station, they won prizes handed out by one of the 23 MCHS seniors who volunteered for the Spring Fling. Students were tossing football into a cutout, fishing and putting on a green. Then there was dancing and eating of pizza to close out the day.
“This is a 25 out of a 10,” Niemann concluded. “We did very good today. The main thing is the kids have fun and enjoy themselves. I think we’ve accomplished that goal.”
