Fall Festival/Homecoming – A Treasured Ranney Tradition

Fall Festival and Homecoming began early Saturday morning with sunny skies and brisk temperatures as students, parents, teachers, alumni and Head of School Dr. Sykoff lined up along the start at the Guidone Track for the annual Headmaster’s FunRun. At the sound of the horn, 47 runners took off around the track and campus for the 5K run (1 mile run for 5th grade and under) as supporters cheered them on.

The top three finishers in the 5th grade and under race were Olukayode Oladeji, 4th grade; Luke Denver-Moore, 4th grade; and Shana Fitzmaurice, 4th grade. In the 6th grade and older race, Jamil Ahmed, 11th grade; Peter Goldberg, and 11th grade and Anthony Papetti, 11th grade, finished in the top three spots.

At 10:30 a.m. it was time for Ranney’s littlest students to have their own race as three-year-old Beginners gathered at the Crescent for the annual Beginners Walk with the Headmaster. As the day progressed, hundreds of members of the Ranney community took advantage of a full day of athletic activities, arts and crafts, carnival events and lots of food.

The athletic fields were the site of a number of Panther Cubs activities as well as Varsity, JV and Middle School home games, with results as follows:

MS Girls’ Tennis vs. Rutgers’ Prep - Win, 5-0

JV Girls’ Tennis vs. Rutgers’ Prep - Win, 5-0

Varsity Boys’ Soccer vs. Saddle River Day School - Win, 5-0

Varsity Girls’ Soccer vs. Saddle River Day School - Loss, 0-6

Varsity Field Hockey vs. The Hun School of Princeton - Loss, 0-8

Thanks to the months of hard work and devotion of chairwoman Allana Egol, RSPA Executive Board liaison Kathy Dodge, RSPA Vice President Mimi Keenan and RSPA President Sue Grosso, the Fall Festival Committee, Parents’ Association volunteers and an army of Middle and Upper School student volunteers, there were dozens of fun RSPA-hosted Fall Festival activities to choose from: crafts, inflatables, build your own scarecrow, pumpkin patch, pumpkin decorating, food and drink, haunted house, DJ/"Ranney Idol", pony rides, team relay races, balloon artist, horse and carriage hayrides, games, uniform sale, petting zoo and spin art. More than $4,500 was raised from the hugely popular carnival games to benefit the Upper School class councils, while the Middle School Community Service group raised $465 with their sand candy booth. In keeping with Ranney’s commitment to community service, the school collected hundred of cans of food which will be donated to the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean County.

Visiting alumni from the Class of 1965 through the Class of 2005 also took the opportunity to tour the campus, specifically the Annex, which now houses administrative offices and Lower School classrooms, but at one time served as Ranney’s high school. It was a great trip down memory lane as alumni pointed out where their former classrooms, the nurses office, locker rooms and the Headmaster’s Office were once located.

By mid-afternoon Ranney families began to drift off-campus, exhausted from a full day of fun, and bringing this treasured Ranney tradition to its successful conclusion.

For additional information on all Ranney School news, please contact the Communications Department at communications@ranneyschool.org.