Sarah Hudock, 1st grade


Tug of War


Olivia Coyle passes the Leaky Kayak


A class answers their quiz questions before the Tennis Ball Toss competition


Ben Gamble, 5th grade, shows his colors during Brainwave


Kara Evans and her Jazzy Junior enjoy their ice pops

The Pinewood campus was alive with excitement for the biennial Brainwave. An "academic bowl" with a field-day twist, Brainwave involves the entire student body, kindergarten through 12th grade in fundraising, academic enrichment, and field-day activities. Faculty and staff manned the stations where students were given a quiz at the beginning of each station. As a class they answered questions such as the distance of the earth from the sun and what is a compound sentence. Once the questions were completed there was the tug of war, leaky kayak race, basketball shoot out, homerun derby and eight other stations to rotate through.

Super Seniors who are Pinewood Juniors and Seniors spent the day with the K4 and K5 students that they mentor through the Jazzy Juniors program. The Super Seniors helped their students through a mini-Brainwave and then celebrated their achievements with an ice cream party on the playground.

This year's Brainwave raised a record $50,000 for SMART Boards. The Boards include a touch-sensitive whiteboard that connects to a computer and digital projector that shows the image on the computer screen. Teachers can then control computer applications directly from the board, write notes in digital ink and save their work to share later.

At the end of Brainwave day, the entire school also was treated to an ice cream party. As part of her winnings being named one of Nestle Flavorologists for 2008 with her Criss Cross Apple Sauce creation, 3rd grader Katie Stagliano won the party for her entire school. Approximately 1,000 Shrek pops were delivered by the Eddy's Ice Cream delivery man the day for Pinewood students and staff to enjoy at Brainwave.