Kittery students challenge principal to kiss a pig: She does, after kids read 1,000 books
KITTERY, Maine — This fall, Horace Mitchell Primary School students struck a deal: If they combined to read 1,000 books, Principal Allison Gamache would have to complete a challenge presented by the students.
On Friday, that agreement came full circle as the kids hit their goal. Gamache fulfilled their wish for her to kiss a pig in a schoolwide assembly.
The fifth-year principal, after reading the children’s book “This School Year Will be the Best!” by Kay Winters, gave a smooch to Phoebe, a roughly 150-pound miniature pot-bellied pig, outside the school with students, staff and parents watching.
The school’s approximately 260 students, ranging from kindergarten to third grade, held up signs and broke into chants of “kiss that pig” as Phoebe sauntered over to Gamache.
“They had this goal in mind. Every time I’d walk down the hallway from the day we started this, especially the kindergarteners and first graders, they said, ‘You’re going to kiss a pig.’ My response was, ‘Keep reading,’” Gamache said. "When they got there, it was good."
The challenge was born in the school’s first-grade class after teacher Baylee Cox read “This School Year Will be the Best!” to her students.
One line in the book, however, is the crux of how the Horace Mitchell Primary School challenge began, reading: “... and the principal will do something crazy.”
Cox said her students filled out and drew pictures on a “hopes and dreams” worksheet. About 90% of her students drew pictures of pigs and wrote that they wanted Gamache to kiss a pig. The principal obliged, but on the condition the students had to read 1,000 books. No timeline was set, but the students got to work right away.
Challenge accepted, challenge completed.
“It’s amazing. I think this is going to be a really great, core memory for them,” Cox said after the kiss on Friday. “It gives them a sense of community and being able to work together as a whole school. I’m so proud of them, what they’ve accomplished, and what they’ve created.”
The pig, named after iconic “Friends” TV character Phoebe Buffay, is owned by Devin and Carol Linn Powell of Wells.
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Friday marked Phoebe’s third kiss from a school principal. The principals of the Vivian E. Hussey School and the Knowlton School, both in Berwick, have kissed her in the past after “muddy mile” fundraisers.
“This is not new to Phoebe. She loves kissing principals,” Carol Linn Powell said.
With Phoebe leashed and munching on rainbow Goldfish crackers, the Powells took their tail-wagging pet around for a stroll and showed curious students and their parents how to pet the pig.
“The kids are just so happy. She’s obviously really happy about it, too,” Carol Linn Powell said of her pig. “I think it’s cool that the kids can see a pig being a pet, too. She’s not just a farm animal or for food. She’s an animal. She can be a pet and she can walk on a leash.”
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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kittery school principal kisses pig after students read 1,000 books
