Nicole Cappello’s kindergarten class collected $189, earning the honor of carving the giant pumpkin that has been holding court in George G. Blaisdell Elementary’s main lobby for the past few weeks.
GGB students schoolwide collected more than $1,500, which will be donated as follows: $550 to CARE for Children, $550 to Special Olympics and $550 to the United Way of the Bradford Area.
The donations are part of a contest held each year at GGB, where pocket change is collected, and the winning class gets the honor of carving the giant pumpkin in the school cafeteria.
While the actual carving is done by an adult, the class got to decide on how the pumpkin would look and took turns pulling the insides out and depositing them in bag-wrapped boxes around the room, set out to catch discarded pumpkin guts.
“It’s like… squishy,” Sadie Gilligan, a member of Capello’s class, said. She also said that carving the giant pumpkin was different than carving the two pumpkins she and her family decorated at home.
For Cameron Harris, also a member of Cappello’s class, the process was fun.
“I like it. We cut it open and got all the guts out,” he said.
Alianna Placer cheerfully made the observation, “It’s sticky” before returning to help her classmates clean the seeds and guts from the inside of the giant pumpkin.
Gus Crissman, who has been donating one of his giant pumpkins to GGB for years, encouraged the students to take a seed home and try to grow their own pumpkin next year.
“This is just a baby,” he said when asked the weight of the pumpkin the children were about to carve.
Crissman noted that this was one of only five he grew this year. Another of his giant pumpkins was a part of the regatta in Pittsburgh last weekend. It was carved into a boat, complete with a motor attached.
“This year wasn’t a good year. I lost everything and had to start over,” he explained. “This pumpkin would have grown bigger, but I just ran out of time.”
When asked about the donation of the pumpkins, Crissman explained it started when the late Dave Jones, a good friend of Crissman’s, was principal of GGB.
“I know the kids get a kick out of it, so I continue to do it,” he said.
Despite an initial chorus of “Eeeww” when the lid was lifted off the giant pumpkin, the class was more than happy to dig in and get their hands dirty.
