ASHEVILLE, N.C. —

So the principal was hanging around with the assistant principal Friday morning at Haw Creek Elementary School when a young girl pointed out the obvious.

“You look like a mummy,” the girl chirped.

And she was right.

Swaddled in countless layers of multi-colored duct tape, Principal Christen Davidson and Assistant Principal Jeremy Aten were taking one for the team.

Assistant Principal Jeremy Aten and Principal Christen Davidson hang out at Haw Creek Elementary School on Friday, May 17, 2024.
All the school’s children were given a chance to apply duct tape to stick their principal and vice principal to the wall.
It was a frenzy of activity as the children went to work.
Haw Creek Elementary School Principal Christen Davidson.
Vice Principal Jeremy Aten of Haw Creek Elementary School.
Bringing new meaning to the motto of Haw Creek Elementary School…
Stuck to the wall, about a foot off the ground, was Principal Christen Davidson at Haw Creek Elementary School on May 17, 2024.

The children’s reward for helping to raise $28,251 for PTA projects around the campus was a chance to torture the two education leaders in the most amusing way possible, by duct taping them to a cinderblock wall and keeping them on display until a D.J. arrived for a special celebration at recess.

“There’s so many pieces of tape. They’re about 15 inches off the ground,” said 11-year-old Wyatt, whose mother, PTA Secretary Krista Gamble, helped organize this playful public humiliation. “It reminds me of someone getting stuck in a spider web.”

“I’m feeling stuck,” Davidson said, as about 200 children packed the school lobby and waited their turns to press green or yellow or silver or black duct tape across her with their tiny little fingers.

It could have been worse. Earlier in the week they spun the “Wheel Unfortunate” and it could have landed on “Kiss a Pig,” “Silly String Attack,” or something worse. One child wanted her to kiss a snake. Instead, the wheel landed on “school choice,” and the children voted for the sticky predicament with duct tape.

You see, these kids over-achieved just a bit. As Krista Gamble explained, they recently had a Fun Run with a goal of raising $15,000. If they met the goal, they’d get to do something sneaky to the principal.

But they ran so many laps (35) and raised so many per-lap pledges that they more than doubled the previous fundraising record. So they got to torture the assistant principal, too. And they got the DJ.

Gamble said the money would be used on campus to expand outdoor learning opportunities to boost the new science curriculum. They plan to purchase portable seating, a sun shade and other supplies for classes outside.

As they dangled from the wall Friday morning, waving and making funny faces at their young tormenters, Davidson and Aten took it all in stride.

But the principal did admit, “I was hoping you guys were going to pick ‘Kiss a Pig.'”