Santa pays a visit to Buckeye schools

BRILLIANT -- Santa Claus paid an early visit to kids when he stopped by two Buckeye Local elementary schools on Dec. 11.

Jolly Old St. Nick gave his reindeer a rest at the North Pole and instead arrived via float atop a semi-truck to Buckeye North Elementary in Brilliant and West Elementary in Adena, where he took photos with masked kids and spoke to them about being good boys and girls and getting ready for Christmas. He reminded the children to listen to their parents and leave him cookies as well as some sugar for his reindeer to give them energy for their long journey, plus he provided treats of his own which were distributed by the teachers. Several children told him that they had seen him at the mall while one youngster excitedly called out, "He's beautiful."

His visit was sponsored by Eastern Construction and Excavating Inc. of Steubenville and was among the many stops he made in the area. Jake Moore, superintendent and safety officer for ECE, said it originally began in Steubenville through company project manager Brennan Stover and snowballed with stops throughout Eastern Ohio and West Virginia.

"We usually participate in the Steubenville Christmas Parade but Brennan and his cousin, who is a teacher, said we should put Santa on a float and visit her school. Folks started calling to see if we could bring it to their schools and then we were calling schools and asked if we could bring Santa and they all said yes," Moore said, adding that St. Nick has traveled from Beallsville to Weirton.

North Elementary Principal Susan Nolan was delighted to see Santa, saying he was a welcome sight since students faced a challenging year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The district has already faced remote learning and hybrid classes leading up to Christmas break and the sight of Father Christmas certainly put a smile on the kids' faces.

"The kids had a chance to come out and see Santa while spacing apart," she said. "(The company) is awesome for doing this."

A few of her students were equally excited and shared a few of their Christmas wishes.

"(I'm excited) for 100 million years," quipped kindergartener Malaki Reynard. "I want one of those camera drones that I can watch people from the road, 10 Nerf guns and a Ferrari and Lamborghini, but the remote-control kind."

"I want a Baby Reborn," added classmate Caroline Frye. "I like (Santa) a lot."

Santa continued on to West Elementary to spread more holiday cheer to the children in Adena and Principal Jim Rocchi noted that the stop definitely made the students' day.

"The kids were very excited," Rocchi said. "It was very nice for Eastern Construction to provide this for us."