Independence principal chows down on scorpion

Students at Independence Elementary participated in a Fun Run this year as a fundraiser for the school. They gathered Fun Run pledges for donations from their friends and family members . 

To encourage the students, Principal Angela Osborne vowed to eat a bug if the school community could get pledges from donors in all 50 states. The students would be allowed to choose a grasshopper, cricket or scorpion.

The children took Osborne up on the challenge and found donors in all 50 states. Their delicacy of choice was the scorpion, which PTO leaders ordered from Thailand.

“I tried to find a domestic scorpion because the shipping from Thailand is crazy, but they didn’t have it,” PTO co-president Christi Johanneman said. 

“You can order anything from the internet,” PTO grade-level coordinator Kelly Brady added. 

Osborne, who was named the Florida State Principal of the Year earlier in 2015, appeared on the school’s TV broadcast channel and students watched from their classrooms as she crunched on the arachnid. 

Osborne named the scorpion Johnny Jumpup to make the experience a little more personal.

“It does not smell good. It feels a little odd. Its legs are wiggly. It’s got a hole in the end of its tail,” Osborne said as she examined the scorpion.

Chants of “Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!” broke out from students and PTO members in the media center, and there was no way for her to back out.

After swallowing her first bite, Osborne’s reaction could be described only as disgust. PTO co-presidents Monica Kozak and Christi Johanneman and Assistant Principal Eileen Oats helped Osborne finish her plate. 

The student body then went outside for an ice-pop party in celebration of reaching 95% of their fundraising goal. 

Contact Catherine Sinclair Kerr at [email protected].