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Some 300 students from Perkins School and the Newark Education Center there got to see fire trucks, law enforcement vehicles, ambulances, dump trucks and other construction-related vehicles, a farm truck and even a race car at the “Touch-a-Truck” event held at Perkins School June 6th.
Kindergarten teacher Mary Ciulla, who organized the event for the second year in a row, with Perkins first grade teacher Chelsea Powell and teacher assistant Marie Colacino afterward said “students had an absolute blast one of my students said it was the best day ever.”
“This event is so special because it gives all students an equal opportunity to learn more about the trucks and the duties the truck owners perform. One of the goals of the event is to increase exposure to various unique careers in our community. So many of my students were excited at the prospect of making giant pizza ovens someday while working at Upstate Refractory or clearing out pipes with the Newark Department of Public Works!
“Touch-a-Truck is also a great opportunity to build connections between the various outlets in the community in a low-pressure way,” Ciulla continued. “Building a positive interaction might make it a little less intimidating to the students should they ever encounter a situation in which they see an ambulance, fire truck or police officer in the real world!”
Event exhibitors included:
• Newark Department of Public Works
• Newark Fire Department
• Newark Police Department
• Fairville Fire Department
• Marbletown Fire Department
• J.W. Curran Excavating from Phelps
• El-Vi Farms in Newark
• Newark Arcadia Volunteer Ambulance
• Upstate Refractory in Newark
• Wayne County Sheriff’s Department
• Wilbert Racing of Webster
• Wilbert's U-Pull It from Williamson
“The students loved interacting with the drivers of each truck and in a few cases were able to climb into a couple of the vehicles, making it that much more exciting! Each driver was so informative and patient with the students asking many questions,” Colacino said.
Other members of the Committee that helped plan the event were: Kelly Puckett, Cory Schalberg Jessica Bittner, Jillian Blodgett, Jillian Manuel and Kelly Faust.
“Mary Kate Wilbert, our Assistant Principal, was also a huge help in getting various trucks to join us,” Ciulla said.