Two weeks ago, the Seniors received cake boxes made by their Kindergarten buddies inviting them to bring a cake to Thunder Fun Day to participate in the annual “cakewalk.”

Thunder Fun day is ODA’s annual community event designed to bring the campuses together in a day of fun and play. Proceeds from the day are used by the parent association to support funding for the After Prom, an event that invites seniors for school-organized late-night fun after the dance.

The cakewalk began as part of the inaugural Thunder Fun Day approximately ten years ago. That year, kindergarten students wrote letters to their senior buddies asking them to bring a cake to the event. The tradition grew as subsequent years included decorating cake boxes.

The seniors and their buddies supply the cakes for the cakewalk on Thunder Fun Day and anyone can win them. Wouldn’t it be “sweet” if the seniors and the kindergarteners won each others’ cakes?

But what is a cakewalk anyway?

According to Wikipedia, a cakewalk is “similar to a raffle and musical chairs. Numbered squares are laid out on a path. Tickets are sold to participants, with the number of squares in the path equal to the maximum number of tickets sold. The participants walk around the path in time to music, which plays for a duration and then stops. A number is then called out, and the person standing on the square with that number wins cake as a prize (hence the name).”

“The Cakewalk is definitely the best event at Thunder Fun Day because you get the opportunity to win an entire cake. The year I won, I ate it with my hands,” says Senior Libby Grimond, former cake winner.

The kindergarteners’ parents are taking charge of the Cakewalk this year.

“Being a new mom to ODA and having a kindergartener, I can say it was super sweet and fun to see the enthusiasm all the little kindergartners have for their senior buddy,” says Jennifer Chessler, a mother of an ODA kindergartener and a co-chair of the Cakewalk.

Both the Seniors and the Kindergartener’s parents feel a sense of community through Thunder Fun Day.

“Being someone who has experienced both campuses, it is great that there is an additional opportunity to combine as one community,” says Senior Jackie Olson.

This year’s cakewalk will take place on Saturday, November 14th on Thunder Fun Day at the Siesta Key campus.

The Seniors and their Kindergarten buddies are looking forward to see each other again as the last time they were together was at Convocation in October!

Pictures by Jennifer Chessler