By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

OXFORD – It wasn’t Turin, Italy, but the enthusiasm in the gymnasium at Oxford Elementary School may have rivaled the real Olympic games overseas when students held their own opening ceremonies on Friday.

Students cheered, clapped and jumped as each class representing a different country walked around the gym in the Parade of Nations, waving small flags of their homelands and sporting accessories that reflected each country.

A second-grade class from France wore berets on their heads. A class from Norway wore Viking horns. Of course, the kindergarten students representing America wore red, white and blue as chants of “USA, USA!” greeted their arrival.

Each class then greeted the large group of assembled family members with a greeting in their native tongue. “Guten Tag!” yelled the class from Germany in an enthusiastic small roar.

The parade was followed by student performances in drama, song and dance, a recitation of the Olympic oath, and the lighting of the Olympic “torch” when a student from the host country of Italy ran through the gym with a “flame” and lit up yellow and orange streamers atop a small pillar.

And what would the Olympics be without competition? This Friday, students will participate in their own less-intense games, including penny stacking, obstacle courses, snowshoe racing and lining up toothpicks. Closing ceremonies will be held after the games.

Melissa Guerrette, a fifth-grade teacher who came up with the idea for the Olympic-themed program, said it was designed to teach students about mutual respect, teamwork and unity.

“During the Olympics, the countries of the world come together around one idea of competing in good sportsmanship,” she said. “When they (students) are all together, great things happen.”

The lesson seemed to have reached fifth-grader Dylan Cox. Friday’s festivities taught him “how much hard work goes into the Olympics,” he said. “I also learned how you have to have respect for each other.”