Eighth-graders enjoy a ‘fancy tea’ before vacation

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Grade 8 students at SeDoMoCha Middle School had the opportunity to enjoy some refined and tasty treats on the afternoon of the last day of school before the holiday vacation with a fancy tea on Friday, Dec. 20.
    “The main reason for this is we have been taking a look at colonial life,” social studies teacher Dyan McCarthy-Clark. She mentioned how George and Martha Washington may have dined at Mt. Vernon as an example of what the students studied during the unit and “we have been learning about manners and not to commit faux pas.”

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    FINE DINING — SeDoMoCha Middle School eighth-graders enjoyed a fancy tea on the afternoon of Dec. 20. The students had been learning about colonial America, including how some of the nation’s future leaders such as George Washington would have dined.

    “It’s a way to have a fancy dinner before vacation,” McCarthy-Clark said, adding that students provided many of the finger food items such as tea sandwiches, desserts and assorted flavored teas. “When I asked them if they were interested I said you have dress up to enjoy refined things and they said ‘yes, yes,’” she said, saying many of the eighth-graders had been looking forward to the fancy tea all week.
    McCarthy-Clark’s homeroom set the event up in the cafeteria, placing cups, saucers, plates, silverware and white cloth napkins around 10 tables with seven or eight place settings at each. Many of the boys wore ties and a number of girls had on skirts for the occasion.

Observer photos/Stuart Hedstrom

    TREATING THEMSELVES — Grade 8 students at SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft had plenty to choose from during a fancy tea on Dec. 20.

    When the tables were set McCarthy-Clark had several students walk to the other three grade 8 homerooms where they were to say, “You are cordially invited to the tea.”
    With all the students gathered in the cafeteria and two long tables covered with food and drinks, McCarthy-Clark said, “Remember you go left to right and no more than five things per plate.” After the etiquette reminders she also said, “Again I want to thank my homeroom for doing an extraordinary job setting up.”