PTO Picnic

On Saturday, September 21st 2013, I attended the PTO picnic. I was really excited to go along, as it allows you to have fun with your friends while you help out with your CAS groups at the same time. In this event the various groups at ISK have a chance to advertise themselves and raise money for their cause through fun events (like sponge tosses, 'pin the horn on the rhino', selling cupcakes, etc).

We had been discussing this event in our groups for a while beforehand, and each club had plans for their stalls. I had decided to do shifts for three of my clubs, as I could only be at the picnic from around 12-3:30. My shifts were as follows:
- 12:00 - 1:00 - Save the Rhino
- 1:00 - 1:30 - Photography Club
- 1:30 - 2:30 - ARTSCO

I arrived just in time with my arms filled with cupcakes and a poster that I had made for Save the Rhino, and headed over to their stall. As I passed through the fair I was amazed at the positive attitude - there were people laughing wherever I looked, and everyone looked like they were having an amazing time. There were people singing and performing on stage, each stall was bustling with activity, and everything smelled amazing.

My poster

However, when I arrived at the Save the Rhino stall I found it mostly deserted. There were two girls selling cupcakes, and I added mine to the ones laid out on the table. There was also a 'Rhino Toss' set up (where you have to throw hoops onto a rhino horn), and a 'pin the horn on the rhino' game (like 'pin the tail on the donkey' but with a rhino and a horn). You got prizes for the games, and it was all exactly as planned. The cupcakes cost 50-150 shillings each, and the games were 100 shillings a turn (including a prize at the end). I sat down at the ring toss stall and, unfortunately, spent most of the time sitting with no customers. There were more people buying cupcakes, but I feel that our slightly desolate location (it was further up the hill, and not many people walked up there) limited the funds that we raised.

Photography club calender

After I finished my time there I went down to the photography stall - located on the basketball courts. One of my friends and Ms Bock were there, and I sat down with them. This was definitely more interesting for me, I watched all the other clubs interacting with the community and spreading awareness, and it was really captivating. Furthermore, a number of people came up and inquired about our calendars (which we were selling), and we sold a few. They were the calendars from last years photography club, and even though my photos weren't in them they were amazing. They cost 500 shillings each, and I feel like we raised a fair amount of money.

An example of Sabrina's amazing face painting

My last slot in ARTSCO was very busy. Lots of people wanted to get their faces painted, and even though we dropped our idea of tie dying shirts this was enough business. It cost 50 shillings to get a painting on your cheek, 100 to get a large one, and 150 for your entire face. My friend Sabrina was in paradise, as she loves art and puts so much effort into everything that she does. Her face painting was amazing, and soon enough there were crowds of people watching her work and waiting for their turn. I helped out with a few, but I decided to leave most of the painting to her!

I think that overall it was a really successful day, I had a great day and enjoyed helping support my CAS groups. I hope that we have more chances to do things like this in the future, and that this event will aid us in our goals.