NESCOPECK, Pa. — Cheers, coaching, and countdowns are all at play on Field Day at Nescopeck Elementary School.
"We make it the best end-of-the-year event for the kids. This is a long-standing tradition," said third-grade teacher Dara Scala,. "All the teachers work together to organize the different events and put a schedule together. And we have amazing parent volunteers that come in every year and help run all of these stations."
Field Day at this school usually marks the end of the school year, but this year, it marks the finale at this building on Dewey Street, where generations have come for not only fun and games but an education, too.
"My grandma attended here, my mom attended here I attended here. And now my son is the last to attend here," explained parent volunteer Crystal Mickalowski.
Last year, the Berwick Area School district voted to close this elementary school at the end of this school year.
Making this the final Field Day in this schoolyard.
"I'm trying to just live in the moment and enjoy watching them have fun," said Mickalowski. "I'm trying not to think about the end of the day. That's probably when I will break down. But it's just so much fun to be able to be here with the kids, seeing them have fun and just enjoy their last days here at Nescopeck."
"I think any end of the year is emotional. You get to know these kids for so long over the course of one school year that they kind of become your own," said Scala. "Little bit more this year. Of course, we're leaving, but luckily a lot of us are going with them. So I feel like they'll still have their familiar faces and there'll be okay."
Next school year, these students will join classes with the now Salem Elementary School and become the newly named East Berwick Elementary.