Fiesta

In an attempt to provide students at Emmaus with fun activities (and to keep them from sneaking off campus), Taylor and I decided to throw a fiesta toward the beginning of the school year. It turned out that most of them had no idea what a fiesta was... or had ever seen a pinata.

I had the Sophomore class make pinatas during Arts & Crafts class, blowing up balloons and covering them in shreds of paper which were soaked in a mixture of flour and water. I told them to make as many as they could and we would fill all of them with candy. Unfortunately, many balloons popped before the paper dried and we only had a handful of pinatas at the end of the week. Taylor and I filled them and provided food and music on Saturday...

but they were scared! With the speakers up, Taylor stood on the porch of Jonart's house holding the microphone and called to the students to come eat, enjoy the music, and smash pinatas. We were surprised that these boys, who usually came running at the mention of junk food, were hiding in the dorms. Eventually they came over and got to work on the nachos and salsa, but when we hung the first pinata from the basketball rim, they hesitated. Jonart went first, as we were celebrating his birthday. After being spun in circles, he slowly tried to figure out where the pinata was. But as soon as he swung, I yanked on the rope attached to the pinata and raised it well above the stick, and snickers spread through the eagerly waiting students. He eventually figured it out and when he smashed the pinata open all hell broke loose. The pinata quickly disappeared from sight as it was buried under a pile of students. There was screaming and laughing. The boys started volunteering to hit the other pinatas and soon the candy was all gone. I'd say it was a success.