At the recent Our Lady of the Assumption school gala, Courtney Hale, the parent of three OLA students, won the “Principal for the Day” prize. Cashing in her award on Monday, March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, she made an early decree that it would be an out-of-uniform day and requested that all students, faculty and staff dress “Irish” in honor of the saint’s day.

As OLA students arrived at school, the parking lot was a sea of green as students exited their cars during morning carpool. All with high hopes of winning the “Best Irish Dressed Student” contest. Equally bedecked for the occasion, teachers went to great lengths to win the “Best Irish Dressed Teacher” contest.

Immediately after Hale made the morning announcements, Irish music rang out over the speaker system and students were invited to line the hallways and watch as seventh-grader Annette McDermott, a student at King O’Reilly School of Dance, danced by doing an Irish jig. That was only the beginning of what the “new” principal” had in store for OLA students. She also announced that each classroom would have an extra 15 minutes of recess for all classes. During lunch, students enjoyed more Irish music and an ice cream bar with green ice cream.

At the end of the day, winners of the two contests were announced. The judges included Hale’s three children, Carley (second grade), Connor (fourth grade) and William (sixth grade). The student winner for pre-kindergarten to grade three was Brendan Hall (third grade) and for grades four to eight was Maddie Hill (fourth). The pre-kindergarten teacher, Caitlin Kelly, won the title for the teachers.

“We’ve never had a parent serve as principal of the day,” said Anita Nagel, OLA’s principal (for real), “but Mrs. Hale did a fantastic job, and it was really a fun day for everyone. She will be a hard act for me to follow!”