Court glory, face pies & cake

Encampment School ended its homecoming week Saturday, and a weather-related postponement of the school's homecoming dance did not dampen Encampment students' spirits. The schools boys and girls basketball teams gave students, faculty and families plenty to celebrate with a string of wins. The school also exceeded a fundraising goal in its Penny Wars fundraiser, and concluded the week with a cake auction that raised $12,180 for the school's athletic fund. The boys and girls basketball teams delivered the goods to fans at home and on the road, with both sweeping the competition in three games held during the week. The boys' team beat the Laramie sophomores Tuesday 67-55, the Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners 63-52 Friday and finally brought down the Rock River Longhorns 60-38 in front of a near-capacity crowd Saturday. The Lady Tigers also brought home the glory, beating Laramie 63-14, and HEM 64-11 before dispatching the Longhorns 61-32. Sports were not the only competition going on at the Encampment School on homecoming week. The school held its "Penny Wars" fundraising competition. Each class had a bucket in which change or paper money could be dropped. Pennies and folding money counted positive, but silver coins counted negative, meaning classes could sabotage others. For elementary school, the winner of the competition was the fourth grade, and on the middle/high school side, the seventh grade won. Altogether, the school raised $1,239.80 during Penny Wars, which exceeded the $1,000 goal set by the student council at the outset. Because the students surpassed their goal, the winning grades had to opportunity to throw a pie at a teacher's face. Karim Bekka, the middle and high school math teacher got his pie courtesy of the seventh grade class. Janice Peterson, the fourth grade teacher had a pie delivered upon her countenance by her own students. Funds raised by Penny Wars go to the Community United Medical Fund, Debra Burke of Encampment School said. The fund assists residents of Encampment and Riverside who need medical assistance. Classes also prepared giant posters that were hung on the walls of the school. Each class had its own theme and made the posters. The winners of the competition were the class of 2021 (eight grade) in first place with its election-year spoof called "Make Encampment Great Again -ER" theme. The senior class of 2017 came in second and the class of 2020 (ninth grade) took the bronze medal with its Olympic-themed poster. Saturday the school hosted the cake auction that raised funds for Encampment athletics. For the fundraiser, students, residents of the town and even businesses donated cakes that were then auctioned off after the basketball games Saturday. Overall, the auction raised $12,180. The most expensive cake was "Cookies & Cream" by EHS student Noelle Peterson which sold at auction for $600. Peterson's cake was also selected as the Queen's Choice and best overall cake by a panel of judges. Overall, 82 cakes and other edible treats were auctioned, with an average price of $148.54. The winter weather that tore into the Valley with a vengeance after a mild December cast a pall on the celebration as the school's homecoming dance first had its start time changed and later, as the wind blasted the town and the snow began drifting, was postponed. The postponement didn't put the damper on the celebration, though. Even though the dance had been postponed, the students held the coronation of the homecoming king, queen, and court. Sometime in the next several weeks, it is hoped that the homecoming royalty, along with other students, will be able to enjoy the homecoming dance as a belated capstone to the week.