Page 8 - July 2019 Version 2

WAL PARENTS VOLUNTEER AT TUCKER ES

By Zohreh Khosknamak, Youth Committee Member
parents doing some- parents have surprised their kids with
thing kind for their an all-out water fight with balloons,
teachers. Each dish water guns and even sponges and
was labeled with the buckets...an ideal way to bring the
ingredients and child’s school year to a close. The event is
name whose family quickly becoming a tradition at
made the food, and Tucker ES, “The Tucker parents vs.
teachers were able to Tucker Tigers End of the Year Water
talk to the students Fight!”
about the foods their
families made. The water fight began on Thursday,
June 20 at 12:35 p.m. after the chil-
The teachers were dren were released from school. The
thrilled. Several teach- City of Alexandria allowed us to use
ers stated, “This is one the sports field next to the school, and
of the best teacher ap- Tucker ES helped us immensely by

Tucker ES Teachers enjoy lunch prepared by WAL parents. preciation events allowing us access to hoses, buckets
we’ve had here at and tables. Words fail to describe
For parents like myself, having a uni- Tucker.” In fact, the 2018 event was how much fun everyone had. This
fied voice makes it easy to advocate so successful the school’s PTA asked was one water fight the kids from
for things kids need in our school us to do it again this year. Tucker will not forget!
community. That is why I started to
think that parents here at WAL For the 2019 event, more parents par- The Water Fight and International
should act as a group and build a pos- ticipated from WAL as well as from a Lunch Table at Tucker ES could not
itive community-school relationship, neighboring community. It was great have been done without the many
especially since most of the elemen- to see the community come together parents of WAL coming together.
tary school-aged kids living here at- to celebrate the teachers. We had tons Salma Ayad was instrumental in
tend Samuel Tucker Elementary of appetizers, main
School. Parents from WAL organized dishes, deserts, drinks Volunteers prepare for the surprise water fight.
an International Lunch Table for the and teas from different
school’s Teacher Appreciation Week countries fill each table
as well as sponsored a surprise event in the room. Volun-
for the kids on the last day of school. teers used beautiful
tablecloths and orna-
Lunch from Around the World ments from different
We started hosting the International parts of the world as
Lunch Table last year. Since our decorations and served
community has people from different the meals in the tradi-
places around the world, we used this tional dress for their
resource to prepare food from around respective cultures.
the world. The goal for this event was
to bring the teachers and families to- Last Day of School
gether and to show the teachers how Water Fight
much the WAL community appreci- For the last two years, Photos: Zohreh Khosknamak
ated their hard work. The organizers I’ve been holding a
hoped to foster meaningful connec- surprise party for the children on the helping with the plans for and putting
tions between parents and teachers in last day of school. It has become one on the event. I’d also like to thank
a causal setting outside of parent- of the most popular events at Tucker Hayat Ahmadouch, Houria Ouadi,
teacher conferences held earlier in the Elementary and has brought families Kim Lopes, Karima Erbita, the Men-
year. At the same time, we hoped the from WAL and other communities doza family and the countless volun-
children would feel proud to see their together. For the past two years the teers for these events.

Page 8 Wheel July 2019