Ouachita Parish High School hosts 20th Annual Easter Egg Hunt
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Ouachita Parish High School hosts 20th Annual Easter Egg Hunt
Ouachita Parish High School hosted its 20th Annual Easter Egg Hunt on Thursday with the man who started it all looking on.
Former OPHS teacher and coach Nelson Boggs returned to Lion Stadium where he was surrounded by 25,000 eggs from endzone to endzone — the first egg hunt in 2006 had 7,000 eggs — and he could not help but be swept up in emotion seeing how big the event has grown.
Boggs started it for special education students to enjoy the day with their own easter egg hunt. Students are bussed in from the elementary and middle feeder schools to OPHS, and the high school special needs students also participate.
"They are forgotten so much, and this is the day that they are treated so special," Boggs said. "They should be treated special every day, but today especially, we say, 'Hey, this is for you.'" They're going to think fondly of Ouachita Parish High School forever."
Boggs vividly recalled walking into the office of then OPHS principal Todd Guice, now the Superintendent for Ouachita Parish Schools, with the idea.
"I said, 'Do you feel like getting crazy or a little stupid right now?'" Boggs recalled. "I explained to him I'd really like to have an Easter egg hunt. He actually created this. He made it happen, and (former principals) Mr. (Eddie) Mahoney, Mr. (Larry) Long, and now Mr. (Charles) Wright have backed this wholeheartedly ever since. This is one of the best things going in the city of Monroe."
The event has grown to include the Pre-K and Kindergarten students from the feeder schools also. OPHS student groups and athletic teams start filling eggs 2-3 weeks prior to the event and met at 6 a.m. Thursday morning to scatter them on the field.
"This is the best Ouachita has," Boggs said of the OPHS students who stayed for the event and helped students find the eggs, open each one and collect their goodies into their baskets. "It's about connections. Kids are going to forget what they learned in History or Math class, but it's these connections that will stay with them forever."