Peru, Nebraska – In late March, the Peru Student Education Association (PSEA) hosted Dr. Seuss Day events for students from many local elementary and pre-schools including Auburn’s Calvert Elementary; Tarkio, Mo.; Johnson-Brock; Johnson County Central; Nebraska City Lourdes; HTRS; Falls City; St. Andrew’s Catholic; Little Learners Pre-K; Sterling; and the Peru State Day Care.
The festivities were held in the Performing Arts Center on the College’s campus. The festivities were grand and the audience was excited as PSEA outdid themselves for the tots visiting the campus.
The pre-show events included sing alongs, bubble machines, and massive beach balls flying across the auditorium. Once everyone got settled in, a series of three plays: Horton Hears a Who!, The Cat in the Hat, and Green Eggs and Ham captivated and engaged all attendees.
Green Eggs and Ham featured special guest appearances from Dr. Paul Hinrichs and Mr. Ted L. Harshbarger, who both did a fantastic job getting laughs from the audience. As the shows concluded, the audience read the Readers’ Oath, swearing to read each and every day. Helping read the oath, along with the cast, were Peru State College President Michael Evans, the First Lady Joanna Evans, and Ms. Michelle Kreifels, a teacher in the Lourdes elementary.
The Peru Student Education Association has been helping younger students since its start. They host many events like this one throughout the year. It is an organization for any and all education majors at Peru. The Dr. Seuss event alone has sometimes hosted up to 1,000 visitors to campus. PSEA members state that the activities they participate in, “are devoted to the improvement of education,” and they work towards that goal in every meeting, event, and group outing.
PSEA meets every other Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in TJ Majors 114N. Its executive staff are President Chloe Craig – a senior language arts teaching major from Beatrice, Vice President and Director Sebastian Boelhower – a senior K-12 vocal/instrumental music education major from Hastings, and faculty sponsor Dr. Darolyn Seay.
Craig had this to say about the event, “Dr. Seuss certainly required a lot of effort from all members of PSEA, but I will say that being able to see the smiles on the students' faces and hearing their laughter throughout the auditorium made any difficulty that came along with the event planning process absolutely worth it. Not only did we want Dr. Seuss Day to be memorable for the students and families who came and saw our performances, but we as PSEA were also able to make great memories and relationships with one another throughout all of it. Overall, we were so happy that so many schools were able to attend and that we were able to share with the students how fun reading can be!”
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