Keene principal keeps bet with students
KEENE – Keene Elementary School students thought they’d been fooled by their principal who promised them he’d dress up like a woman if they brought in 3,000 canned goods to be donated to The Salvation Army.
“It’s cold outside,” said Jerry Olinger, principal at the school. “I had the dress on but when I stepped outside this morning I didn’t like the direction the wind was blowing. I knew you would all understand.”
However, after Christmas performances by the fifth and sixth grade band and the choir, Olinger informed the students, teacher and parents who gathered in the school gym Dec. 21, for the concerts that he would indeed keep his bet.
“At the beginning of the month The Salvation Army asked you and your families to bring in canned goods to help people who are less fortunate,” Olinger said to the students. “After you brought in 450 cans in four days I made a wild statement that if you brought in 3,000 I’d dress up like a woman.”
Olinger thought it was impossible for the students to meet his goal in the time they had left to bring in donations.
“I was sure it wasn’t going to happen and I was actually right because you brought in 4,112,” he said. “I think this week if you learn one thing only it should be that if you say you are going to do something, you need to do it.”
Olinger also advised the students to be careful what they say.
“I’m embarrassed, but I’m going to change into a woman right now,” he said.
Olinger had his friend Lila Jarvis help him with his makeup before he stepped backstage to change into a red dress.
When he came back out he was dressed as Mrs. Claus and boogied down on the gym floor with the sixth grade girls to Shania Twain’s “I feel like a woman.”
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
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