The students in Syracuse’s Dr. Weeks Elementary School had huge smiles on their faces in early November thanks to Onondaga Community College‘s chapter of international honor society Phi Theta Kappa (PTK). A circus performer from CirqOvation delighted students in grades Pre-K through 5 with his entertaining act in front of the entire school, and then kept the fun going throughout the day with workshops with individual grades. “We started working on this over the summer,” said OCC PTK student Nick Chai. “I had the background of being in the circus for a while and what better way to incorporate all of it. To put together an event like this was a great time.”
Each year OCC’s PTK chapter focuses on an Honors In Action project which benefits the community in some way. The focus of this year’s was “play.” “We researched ‘play’ over the summer and learned that many people in our society, whether it is because of socioeconomic status, age, disability, or other reasons don’t have access to play. We wanted to create and opportunity for play for the students at Dr. Weeks,” said Dr. Annie Tuttle, OCC’s PTK Faculty Advisor.
OCC’s PTK chapter, thanks to Chai’s connections, brought CirqOvation to Dr. Weeks where performer “Joshua J. Superstar” delighted the crowd with his humorous and daring show. He juggled, he juggled while bouncing on a pogo stick, he put a student on his shoulders and rode a unicycle, he put a teacher on his shoulders and rode a unicycle, and for his final act he rode his unicycle while holding another unicycle in his mouth. “We love to see our students laugh and be silly! This event allowed them to let loose and have fun,” said Dr. Weeks Principal Diane Vitello. “We like to make school as enjoyable as possible here.”
