FALLS VILLAGE — Teams from each grade and a faculty and staff team competed in the Turkey Olympics Friday afternoon, Nov. 18, at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
The sophomore class team prevailed after hard-fought contests in the Mummy Wrap, Dodge Ball and the Three-Legged Race.
The event kicked off with Red Light, in which everybody runs hard until the red light goes on, at which point everybody stops, abruptly, with varying degrees of success.
Social Studies teacher Peter Vermilyea showed impressive elastic tenacity before succumbing to gravity in the Limbo.
Everybody was in good spirits and had a lot of fun.
Students competed in the Mummy Wrap during the Turkey Olympics Friday, Nov. 18. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
Students competed in the Mummy Wrap during the Turkey Olympics Friday, Nov. 18. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
Students competed in the Mummy Wrap during the Turkey Olympics Friday, Nov. 18. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
Donald Polk, right, performed “Flight of the Bumblebee” at Cornwall Consolidated School’s winter concert. A video posted online by his mother has garnered millions of views.
“The support has been overwhelming,” said Donny Polk, Donald’s father, continuing to say that the experience has “opened Donald’s eyes to the possibilities of music.”
For his part, Donald — whose many interests include cooking, painting and theater — said he can now see himself “doing music in the long-term.”
Of particular fascination for Polk’s new legion of fans was his mastery of circular breathing, with many of the video’s comments expressing awe at his execution of the difficult technique. Circular breathing requires wind instrument players to use their cheeks as a sort of bellows, pushing air from the mouth while inhaling through the nose, creating an uninterrupted stream of air through the instrument.
The technique is known to take months to properly grasp. For Donald, however, it came naturally.
Donald Polk learned circular breathing by watching a YouTube video.Photo by Sava Marinkovic
“I looked up a YouTube tutorial,” he said. “It didn’t take too long to learn.”
To learn the piece itself, Polk utilized a practice routine taught to him by his middle school music teacher, Alicia Simonetti-Shpur.
But Simonetti-Shpur insisted that all credit is due to Donald.
“He is very motivated, he sets his own goals,” Simonetti-Shpur said, remarking that the viral performance has become a source of pride for all of Polk’s peers, who are “all paying attention to the view counts.”
Looking to garner even more views, Donald now plans to build a YouTube channel off his TikTok fame. Remaining humble even in the spotlight, Donald says he’ll continue to learn, challenge himself, and perform for others all because “it’s fun.”
The original recording of Donald’s performance can be found on Tamara’s TikTok, at tiktok.com/@maidenpaint. Donald’s own YouTube channel can be accessed at youtube.com/@DonaldPolkIII-u8k.
