Cassingham Elementary held hide-and-seek games for students Friday, March 13 and high school volunteers participated as seekers.
Cassingham Principal David Schottner explained students hid in designated areas of the school while teachers and other volunteers searched for them.
High school students had the opportunity to volunteer to be a seeker, and over 30 students did so throughout the day, he said.
Each grade level played at different times of the day and were given specific rules to follow, Schottner said.
Students were provided with colored stickers associated with their grade level and were required to give the sticker to the seeker once found, he said.
Schottner explained kids were only allowed to hide in select rooms, including allied arts and grade level classrooms, counselor offices and the front office area.
Before playing, each grade was sent to the Cassingham theater where they were told the rules and allowed to ask questions, Schottner said.
The kids were told to return to that room after being found in order to ensure accountability, he said.
To make sure each child was safe and accounted for while hiding, teachers, parents and high school students were placed in each room to supervise, he explained.
Schottner said the activity was a reward for good behavior throughout the third quarter.
“Our [Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports] committee came up with the idea to incentivize students to follow the Cub Code, which is to be safe, respectful, responsible and kind,” Schottner said. “We noticed that physical contact was the number one source of office referrals for our students,” he added. “To help reinforce the importance of keeping our hands to ourselves and playing safely without physical contact, we offer these incentives each quarter to students who follow the Cub Code consistently.”
Schottner said Cassingham Instructional Coach Katie Langolf came up with the idea of having
high school students volunteer to help with the event.
“We figured they would be the best seekers since their days of childhood hide-and-seek were probably not that long ago,” he said. “We love partnering with our high school students, and our elementary students love having them as role models.”
Junior Kaleb Goggins, who volunteered at the event, said it brought back memories from childhood.
“It’s fun, playing hide-and-seek and doing what I used to do while seeing new kids having the
same fun I did,” he said.
He explained he learned about the event through an email from Principal Jason Caudill and decided to sign up with a friend.
Goggins said he walked around the elementary school, searching rooms for kids and then taking their stickers.
He said his favorite moment was when he found a student hiding but decided to let him go after the student made him laugh.
“It probably wasn’t the right thing to do, but he was too funny, and I just wanted to make sure he was having a good time,” Goggins said.
Junior Abbie Keenan also volunteered at the event and said the games were different than she expected.
“I thought it would be a lot more chaotic than it actually was,” she said. “I think we only found three kids because they hid so well.”
Keenan said she believes the games were a good way to interact with younger students and recall childhood memories and create new traditions.
“I think it’s special for the kids because it’s getting close to the end of the school year, and it’s right before Spring Break,” she said. “Whenever I talk to people about elementary school, the first thing that comes up is the old traditions. I think these traditions like hide-and-seek are the things that make elementary school so special.”
Schottner said he believed the event went well, and activities like these are key ways to build community between older and younger students.
“We need to take advantage of all the opportunities we get to connect our elementary students with our high school students,” Schottner said. “We are a school family, so it’s important to celebrate our successes together and have fun together.”
Published and digitized April 2026.
