Friday, October 3, 2025, was a cool, sunny morning in Danbury as all the ACE students filled up the bus, looking forward to having a chill and fun day at Hatters Park with friends.
To start the day, Anthony gathered the students into a circle where they sorted themselves by the first letter of their name and then introduced themselves to everyone. The next sorting required students to stand next to people with the same birthday month, as well as stepping into the circle if a question related to them.
After that, we started our first activity: tower building. All the guidance groups competed to build a tower with newspaper and tape, and whoever had the tallest tower won. This activity is super fun and engaging for the students. The principal of ACE, John Webber, even says that he “loves to see the kids come together and work with each other, as well as seeing them compete and have fun.” Glenda says her favorite part is “seeing kids outside”. Rob and Melissa’s groups teamed up to build the tallest tower this year, measuring 112 inches tall.
Next, students split into small groups and rotated between stations of playing games like the ball-toss game, and team building activities like the ski walk and human pyramids. Students had fun taking healthy risks and working together. A student from the school named Kiki says that her favorite activity was the ball-toss game, it is fun.
For lunch, Rob and Glenda cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grill for everyone to eat. The students appreciate this a lot, because most people at ACE don’t bring lunch from home. Lamara says that she appreciates how Rob and Glenda made Hot dogs and burgers for everyone, so everyone has something to fill their stomachs with. Ashlie says that the whole day she saw so much laughter, people working together, and building community. It was a day to get out of your comfort zone and have fun.
After lunch, students played kickball, hung out on the playground, sat by the pond, made friendship bracelets, or just wandered around the park a little until it was time to return to ACE. Jordyn says that the cheeseburgers and the hot dogs were good.
This was a very fun day altogether, and it has been a part of ACE’s history for over 30 years. English teacher, Melissa Lasky, explained that in past years, the school has held the event at Squantz Pond in New Fairfield, Camp Herrlich in Patterson, New York, and Westport Beach. ACE holds this school event every school year because it’s meant to build community and celebrate being together.
