Lower School Expo Attracts Throngs!

Long a tradition of the Craig School, the spring Expo has taken many forms. Originally a Science Expo, children (and their parents) would labor mightily during the winter months to develop a project in the hope of winning the top prize – Best Overall Science Project in the School. First, second or third in Group was a lesser hope, but also keenly sought after.

The original projects had to meet the criteria of “research experiments” and were conducted strictly according the scientific method with Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion sections carefully typed and presented on a display board along with models or examples of the research. Each student was required to give an oral description of his or her work while parents, faculty and other students circulated around the displays. A team of adult judges conducted the interviews and scored the children’s efforts. There was an elaborate schedule of deadlines by which notes, drafts, revisions, and final copies were to be completed generally over a three month period.

Over the years the event took on the appearance of a full scale National Science Foundation competition with the parents, alas, feeling increasingly both competitive and put upon as they strove mightily to shore up their children’s efforts – the academic versions of soccer moms and dads.

In response to the furor, the event was gradually transformed. “Let’s do social studies instead of science, and eliminate the awards,” was the first suggestion. The displays, however, were still elaborate and although fascinating for the visitor, the faculty questioned whether the work and time invested was evenly spread across the curriculum.

And so the Expo evolved to its present format – an opportunity for children to engage in the performing arts and to showcase their work in all subject areas. Now the burden falls on the faculty and their students rather than on parents to display the evidence of classroom achievements. A child can now justly express pride in his or her own work while exhibiting a math exercise, research paper, or art project to a parent.

Thanks to Anthony Aquino for his play “Spring is Fun Too, 2” and to all the students who labored to present this celebration of and commentary about spring time holidays. Too, the incredible panoply of mobiles, projects, theme papers, models in every classroom is a testament to the exceptional efforts of the Craig students and their teachers over the school year. The Expo has successfully evolved into a multi-discipline event much in keeping with the cross-curricular emphasis at Craig.