Kindergarteners and seniors come together during homecoming
Each of the seniors gave the kindergarteners a Sachems pennant to celebrate the start of their school journeys. Photos by Christian Uva
Bowen Benson, speaking into the microphone, said that he would get a Transformers toy as a reward for speaking.
Senior Ian Pina-Doherty finished his speech with "Your first, our last."
The senior Sachem football players handed out pennants before the game.
The kindergarteners show off their pennants.
Each of the seniors gave the kindergarteners a Sachems pennant to celebrate the start of their school journeys. Photos by Christian Uva
Bowen Benson, speaking into the microphone, said that he would get a Transformers toy as a reward for speaking.
Senior Ian Pina-Doherty finished his speech with "Your first, our last."
The senior Sachem football players handed out pennants before the game.
The kindergarteners show off their pennants.
MIDDLEBORO — For a moment, young and old came together.
The second “Meet at the Fifty” took place before the Middleboro Sachems’ homecoming football game against the Norwell Clippers on Saturday, Oct. 23 Middleboro High School seniors met kindergarten students from Middleboro’s elementary schools at the 50 yard line and gave them a Sachems pennant to celebrate the beginning of their educational journey.
“Right now, you are our district’s youngest learners. But before you know it, you’ll be standing where we are today, looking back on all the memories you’ve made, getting ready for all that comes next,” said senior Ian Pina-Doherty in a speech during the ceremony.
Kindergarten teacher Carly Paling, who has organized the event for the past two years, got the idea after seeing a social media post of another school doing the tradition. She said her first thought was, “We need to do this. It has Middleboro written all over it.”
Paling said that she had many of the current seniors as kindergarten students. She described it as “definitely a full circle moment” to see them giving a gift to her current students all these years later.
The seniors and kindergarteners gave opposite refrains in their speeches.
“Your first, our last,” said Pina-Doherty.
“Our first, your last,” kindergartener Blayke Crane said in response.
Blake and two other kindergarteners spoke ahead of the meeting, each eliciting an “Aww” and a cheer from the crowd.
“”We are the class of 2039,” said Bowen Benson.
“Go Sachems,” said Jaxyn Chilson.
Bowen said he had a reward waiting for him after speaking: “I get Transformers tomorrow.”
Blayke said she was scared to speak, but she mustered up the courage anyway. She clearly wasn’t worried about being in the spotlight, though: When Paling told Blayke that she would be in Nemasket Week, Blayke told her, “I’m already famous.”
“This is the good stuff, what makes Middleboro special,” said Christopher Benson, a Middleboro School Committee member and Bowen’s father.
As the children left the football field, one kindergartener told their mother, “I don’t want to leave.”
