Old Rochester Regional’s AmbassadOR Club held their very first, but soon to be annual, Bulldog Bash on Saturday, September 15. Various booths and activities were set up on the athletic field, including a baked goods booth, cornhole, a bouncy house, and more.
Emily Humphrey, member of the Board of AmbassadORs, said the idea was formed because, “We thought it would be a great idea to bring the community back together, since there’s not a lot to do during the fall here other than Friday night football games.”
The AmbassadOR Club is responsible for representing the school in the community and during school events. During the school’s annual open house when the parents go around the school meeting their children’s teachers, the ambassadors line the hallway, ready to assist and guide parents throughout the building. Michael Devoll, principal of ORR, is the club’s advisor.
Members from Showstoppers Performing Arts, Inc. performed multiple songs at the beginning of the day, including a beautiful rendition of “Somebody to Love” with soloist Brianna Lynch, adlibers Sam Guillotte and Emma Whynacht, and an impromptu air guitar solo by Olivia Guillotte. The group is a nonprofit organization from Mattapoisett, and they sing at fairs, festivals, schools, charitable fundraisers, retirement homes, and other civic events.
One local business set up a booth selling their Tri-Town t-shirts, which are individualized for each town with the town’s animal and coordinates. Also being sold were ORR bulldog shirts and sweatshirts.
Running another booth was a local Mattapoisett-based restaurant selling wraps, soups, and salads for the hungry individual.
For the children, games and a bouncy house were scattered around the field. Games included cornhole, volleyball, and a dunk tank. Luckily for the boy in the dunk tank the weather was warm because many of the attendees had amazing aim. Cornhole was monitored by ambassadors Evan Smith and Emma Williamson, who gave the young players the prize of a caramel apple lollipop.
“We try to target it for little kids, since there’s not a lot to do for little kids in the Tri-Town,“ said Humphrey.
Many of the booths were run by ORR students and parents, like the ORR Athletic Booster Club, which sold school merchandise like sweatshirts, sweatpants, shirts, scarves, and multiple other items. A bake sale run by ambassadors sold homemade goods and store-bought pastries.
To the extreme delight of many kids, the cheerleaders ran a face painting booth, and could do a variety of designs from a sparkly pink butterfly to a ferocious dinosaur. Across the way, ambassadors were doing henna tattoos.
Like most festival-type events, there was an ambassador-run booth that sold cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cones. At the entrance, there was a raffle with a multitude of prizes like gift cards and restaurant coupons.
The Bulldog Bash was a great start to the school year for the ambassadors, and many more events are soon to follow.
ORR Update
By Grace Mastroianni