Classic City High School Student Council Vice President and senior Elijah Watson, Classic City Student Council President and senior Kiriyana Faust Classic and Classic City High School Family Engagement Specialist Mars McCarley (left to right) stand in the Main Office on Oct. 4. McCarley, Faust and Watson have planned the upcoming Fall Harvest Festival for the Early Learning Center that will take place at Classic City on Oct. 11. “I’ve never planned a festival. I’ve attended many so I have a good idea of what I want the event to be, but I’m super nervous,” McCarley said. Photo by Izzy Duncan
Classic City High School will host their first Fall Harvest Festival to bring the Athens community closer to the students and teachers on Oct. 11.
The Fall Harvest Festival will be held at Classic City High School from 10:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m.
Classic City Family Engagement Specialist Mars McCarley has been planning the first-ever Fall Harvest Festival for the Early Learning Center, a school in the same vicinity as Classic City, put in place to support pregnant women, infants and pre-school children, and to fully engage parents in the educational process.
The festival will be targeted to younger children with activities including painting pumpkins, making scarecrows, face painting, pumpkin ring toss and sack races. Each booth will be run by Classic City students in order to give them an opportunity to grow as leaders in the community.
“I’ve never planned a festival, but I’ve attended many so I have a good idea of what I kind of want the event to be but I’m super nervous,” McCarley said. “We are doing this completely from donations, funding or anything. It’s all from the community (for) the community.”
“I’ve never planned a festival, but I’ve attended many so I have a good idea of what I kind of want the event to be but I’m super nervous. We are doing this completely from donations, funding or anything. It’s all from the community (for) the community.”
— Mars McCarley,
Classic City Family Engagement Specialist
With the smaller student population at Classic City, Watson hopes that the Fall Harvest Festival will encourage surrounding community members to become more involved in Classic City and its achievements.
“I feel like opening our doors a little bit to the outside (and) doing stuff together as opposed to being a little isolated from each other, despite being so close together (will be good),” Student Council Vice President Elijah Watson, a Classic City senior, said. “Not to mention, it’s also good publicity for our school because not many people (know) who or what it is.”
According to McCarley, outreach within the community has been a struggle for Classic City compared to the other surrounding high schools in the Clarke County School District .
“(This festival) will definitely add unity to this area as well as the areas around us, like (if) Clarke Central students want to join. It will bring the school district together, which is most important for us,” Watson said.
