Radford TKE's and ASA's team up with kids from McHarg School to decorate pumpkins

[The1calledTKE]

Monday wasn't just another day for Renee Myers, Mary Morton and Donita Anderson's kindergarten classes at McHarg Elementary School. With about 60 pumpkins and colorful paint supplied by the combined efforts of Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Sigma Alpha, the day became a pumpkin-painting fest.

Three kindergarten classrooms were set up as art studios where children sat at their low tables with a pumpkin in front of them and different colors of paint available in nearby paper plates.

"Can we have some more blue?" asked two six year olds after tapping on the shoulder of a fraternity member.

According to Eddie Carter, Community Service Chair for TKE, "It's [pumpkin painting project] something different that most people wouldn't think about."

The 17 volunteer brothers from TKE provided the 60 pumpkins and boasted the most volunteers of the bunch. The idea actually originated from the fraternity and shortly after two members contacted the school's principal, Larry Price to work out the details of the planned event.

"It seems like more organizations come into schools, and we like to honor that," said Price. Events like this one seem to be "more of a movement," according to Price. "We love it and the kids love it," Price adds.

According to kindergarten teacher Morton, the kids have been looking forward to the event all week asking, "When are the college boys coming?" Morton, who has been teaching at McHarg for five years says, "This is the first time a fraternity and sorority group has done this type of thing ... they did a nice job."

Price says that something like this doesn't happen "too often," but also says the event is unique. "It's a lot of fun for the kids," he adds.

As for the six representative girls from ASA, they provided the paints used to decorate the pumpkins. According to ASA Philanthropy Chair, Taryn Silbert, this outing with the kindergartners is just one project in a campaign of community service projects. "We do a couple things a month," said Silbert.

For this community service project, TKE contacted the sorority and invited them to join in the fun.

Taryn Silbert leaned over to a child painting her pumpkin and said, "Let me see... wow!" The child showed her pumpkin with a smile.

In another room, the fraternity brothers were busy giving pointers on how to paint the pumpkins. Brian Sullivan, TKE member, shows a boy how to wipe off a painting mistake. "They were really looking forward to it," Sullivan said. "It's been really fun," he said.

"We do things like this and really have fun with the kids," said Carter. According to him, this project is the third in a month. "We do community service on a regular basis," he said.

"This is the first time we've ever done this [pumpkin painting]," said TKE member Bill Wilson.

All 60 pumpkins donated by the fraternity were close to being complete in about 45 minutes. Some pumpkins were covered with color, some featured faces, and some were works of abstract art where the children mixed paint colors and applied them to their pumpkins.

In Morton's classroom, the children put the festive Fall decorative pumpkins up on counters to dry overnight and were allowed to take them home the following day.

"We really want to take them home," said Hannah Harrell and Carsyn Bryant, both six years old.

In the past, McHarg Elementary School has been a place where RU students can come and have fun with the kids. According to Price, "A lot of RU sports teams would come in and play games before school with the kids."

Not only are RU organizations getting involved, but they are allowing kids like six year old Tristan Brown to show off their decorating skills just in time for Halloween