End of Year Picnic Approaches!

On June 6th, Northwest Academy will hold its annual End of School Picnic at Oaks Amusement Park.

Every year on the last day of finals week, all the students from Northwest Academy’s middle and high school get together and celebrate their accomplishments from the last year. In years past the picnic was held at Head of School Mary Folberg’s home, Four Mountains Ranch. However, last year the location changed to Oaks Amusement park.

“It will again be at Oaks Park,” Folberg said. “Everyone knows where that is. There is cover there if it rains, and lots to do, with rides and skating.”

The original idea of the picnic was to have fun with each other before the three long months of summer.

“The picnic started the very first year of this school,” Folberg said. “I invited all 26 students out to the ranch and we had so much fun, we decided to do it every year. It was great to just relax and enjoy each other.”

However, as the school has grown the picnic had to do the same.

“It has gotten bigger and bigger, until last year it outgrew the ranch,” Folberg said. “Too many people, not enough parking, too far, not enough transportation for all the students, hard to find, etc.”

But that does not mean that Oaks Amusement park is perfect. Some students do not want to have to pay for entertainment at the picnic.

“I like the idea of having a potluck, so I don’t have to pay for food at the park,” Jared Kerman, a sophomore said.

But not all students are adverse to the idea spending the last day of school at Oaks Park.

“I love Oaks Park,” Gillie Foley, a freshman, said. “As far as amusement parks go it’s not exactly the best, but it’s still awesome.”

Before the picnic, members of the Northwest Academy community view short student-made films. The film festival is always a crowd-pleaser because of its mixture of serious and comedic films.

“I do enjoy the film festival.” Lily Applegate, a sophomore, said. “It’s fun to watch my friends perform.”