In late September, the City Center of Danbury hosted their annual scarecrow contest. Our teacher Anthony Hellman expressed his interest, and reached out to the City Center of Danbury. About a week later, Laura Blake, Bob Nelson, Anthony Hellman and ACE students built a scarecrow to put out on Main St as part of the community event.
Some people may be curious about the purpose and history behind the use of scarecrows. In “The History of Scarecrows” Juliet Favera writes “The Egyptians were the first group of people in recorded history to use scarecrows, to protect their wheat fields along the Nile River” since then the use of scarecrows has been adopted by farmers across the world.
Students started working on the scarecrow during the trip to Hatters Park and finished it during flex. One of the teachers who were helping out, Laura Blake, explained that she enjoys any and every activity with students being involved, “to bring a design into play”. She also mentioned that next year, if they’re aware about the contest ahead of time, it’ll give them an opportunity to create an even better scarecrow because “we can think of it ahead of time and come up with something sensational.”
Providing a student point of view, Sheyly agreed with others that they should, “”plan somewhat of an idea before hand”. Doing this will give the creators of the scarecrow more time to think and complete it. Including an even better scarecrow for the next time. On Halloween, Daniela offered a flex activity for students to walk downtown to find the ACE Scarecrow and see some of the other scarecrows up close and in person.
