The Parent Association, PAPA, is a truly flourishing organization. They're action-oriented, and sponsored a thoroughly successful "Brain Break" on Sunday afternoon. With exams starting Monday, few students got up for Sunday brunch, and a hungry hoard assembled at 1:40 PM outside the new Wise Community Center. Inside, eighteen excited mamas and papas set up an immense feed. The doors opened early, and music thumped from the juke box when the first 100 kids occupied the floor. By 2:15, twenty-five large pizzas were gone. Ten more were quickly ordered.
Early in January, our friend Harvard neuropsychologist Gessner Geyer told us that the brain is fueled only by oxygen and sugar. There seems to be plenty of oxygen going around, and on Sunday, sugar products were in full supply. These boys are juggling pizza slices and elaborate sundaes.
Twenty-six hours after its dedication, the Wise Center was mobbed by a grateful student body.
The word "awesome" was overused, of course, but it was the team of parent volunteers that had the most fun.
PAPA volunteers are already planning to repeat the event as spring finals approach in May! In the meantime, thanks go to Peter Cooke '04 and Gail Medeiros P'06 for co-chairing this innovative community event.
