Making Friends can be Magical

Event designed to help kids with school changes

By JESSE DUNSMORE
Times Herald
February 28, 2009

Colorful handkerchiefs and lengths of rope were the props magician Rodney Palmer used to entertain children and parents at Woodrow Wilson Elementary on Friday night, but they also were tools he used to illustrate a point.  "No matter where our children go to school, we are all in this together, as long as our children are getting a good education," he said, introducing his show.

Wilson played host to students and families from Harrison Elementary, which closes at the end of the school year as part of the Port Huron Area School District's consolidation plan. Many of Harrison's students will transfer to Wilson.

Palmer looked for an equal number of Harrison and Wilson students as volunteers and used some tricks as metaphors for the situation.

One trick was about working together. Three unequal pieces of rope symbolized students, parents and the PHASD. Palmer worked his magic and revealed the ropes had become equal lengths.

Some tricks were just for fun, including the kid-levitating finale.

"I think (the kids) need to get exposure like that," said Jim Baumgartner, whose daughter Skylar is a fourth-grader at Harrison. "You can't just dump them in with no understanding of what's going on."

Skylar's mother, Dawn Baumgartner, said she thinks some of the children already know each other. She and other parents on Ward Street will miss being able to walk their children to school, Baumgartner said.

Skylar, 9, was upset when she first learned about her school closing, but she's been in a better mood since learning a favorite teacher from Harrison now is teaching at Wilson.

"I'm gonna be excited," she said.

Her friend and classmate Brandon Frontine, 9, said he'll be at least somewhat familiar with his new classmates.

"Woodrow Wilson came to a field trip with us, and I started to know some people," he said. "I thought that maybe next year I might make some new friends."

Student Letters

Note: On  occasion I will receive letters from Teachers that their Students have written to me after performing a Magic Show.  Below you will see the actual writings of the Students with nothing corrected.  So you might see spelling mistakes and other errors.  This is what makes receiving their letters so much fun and there is no greater compliment than that of a child.  I hope you enjoy the letters as much as I did.