By: Aidan Adams and Olivia Taalla

   The family picnic was an exhilarating event held at Hollis Park 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 29. Tempe Prep organized it to be for fun and fundraising. TPA families came and enjoyed food and games.

   Their games were crazy fun. They had a dunk tank, bounce houses, and carnival games. There were also temporary tattoos and face paint, information booths, and uniform sales.

   The dunk tank was a spectacular way to earn donations. Mr. Burd, Dr. Porter, Dr. Mitton, Jacob Tsark, and Dr. Weiss took turns in the dunk tank. Dr. Porter got first place and Mr. Burd second place for the amount of donations raised.

   The bounce houses encouraged buffoonery. In one you stood on pillars and knocked each other off with foam sticks. In another there was a wall with two people on opposite sides strapped with a vest, each with a basketball. They would try to get the basketball in a hoop, but the vests were connected to each other, so they had to pull each other to reach the hoop.

   The carnival games were tricky. In one you would throw a ball to knock down cans to win a prize. In another you would throw rings into a bucket filled with bottles and try to get the ring on the bottle. One favorite prize was whistle candy, later used by middle schoolers to make a little whistle concert.

   The uniform sales booth had all of our spirit clothing available. They were also accepting uniform donations.

   The info booth had information on the events and activities at the Family Picnic. They also gave out name tags and cool sunglasses. 

   At the face paint booth the TPA art club got to help out. There were lots of different designs and colors to choose from. They also had a variety of temporary tattoos. They even sang a nice song for people waiting for the temporary tattoos. It was lots of fun for everyone, and free. It also was a good learning experience for the members of the art club who helped.

   For the cakewalk people walked in a circle until the music stopped, and the number they stopped on gave them a prize.  The prizes, which made it an especially fun event, included mini donuts, chocolate chip cookies, cake, and brownies.

   Some students and teachers at the family picnic shared their opinions of it.

   Farah in seventh grade said that her favorite thing about the picnic “was the dunking, only because I was able to dunk Mr. Weiss, and also the art station because the students there are really good drawers and I got an amazing dolphin and heart on both sides of my cheeks.”

   Mr. Sanderson said, “I enjoyed seeing students, parents, and faculty outside of the regular confines of school as we spent a couple of hours together in a more social setting.” Asked why he came, he said, “Technically the faculty is required to attend, but I would attend even if it weren’t required because I think it’s an important bonding experience for our community.”

   We reporters think the Family Picnic was a good family and fun experience, and we hope TPA has yearly picnics.