The new Haiku day event that took place on Friday, May 6 was a success, according to teachers, students, faculty members and was also filled with surprises.

The majority of those who attended, freshman honors students, the elementary school students, and faculty members had positive responses for the event. Nearing the end of the event the mystery appearance of the high school bear mascot especially excited the elementary students and left a funny surprise for that afternoon.

“I have heard nothing more than positive things from teachers, Mr. Nightlinger, the faculty about how well the event worked and how impressed that they were with the behavior of not only the May Whitney kids but also our own students at Lake Zurich,” Shannon Eichwald, Honors English teacher, said. “It is definitely an event that I hope will continue in the future.”

Haiku day was collaboration with the Honors I students and 1st and 2nd graders from May Whitney. First the kids came and made poetry with the high school students, then the kids who wanted to share the poetry went up to the middle of the field house and read, and then group photos were taken and concluded with the funny surprise at the end, said Eichwald.

The surprise came shortly after the conclusion of the poetry reading.

“Towards the end, the bear mascot came in and at first we all heard rumors that it was either a faculty member, a senior who volunteered, or Cody Gwizdala, a freshman from our grade. But then when the bear took of the head, we started laughing and were also surprised because it was Cody!”Kelly Sullivan, honors freshman student, said.

When the bear came in, all the kids crowded around it and asked for signatures over all their haiku sheets.

“It was so cute because all the first and second graders wanted a signature so bad and they tried really hard for it. When my buddy came back to show me, I laughed because the signature just said ‘bear’ on it,” Sullivan said.

Overall because of the positive feedback from students and people who attended and enjoyed the event, Eichwald hopes that it will happen again in the following years.

“I actually really enjoyed the haiku day and would want to go to it again. The fact that we got to write poetry with cute 1st and 2nd grade buddies and interact with them and also the whole experience in general was nice,” Sullivan said.