The highlight of Archbishop Carroll’s Best Buddies Week happened Thursday when the school’s two physical education teachers got pied in the face as the culmination of Meringue Madness.

Meringue Madness was run like March Madness, with a bracket in which teachers competed against teachers to receive the most student donations for the ultimate prize — a meringue (actually, whipped cream) pie in the face. The final bracket pitted Mr. Tom Quintois and against Mr. Kevin Gallagher — both Carroll P.E. teachers. The winner was Mr. Quintois, but, in the end, both teachers were pied.

The conclusion of Meringue Madness happened during a Best Buddies Week assembly Thursday morning in the auditorium attended by both the Carroll and St. Katherine School student bodies. Best Buddies Week celebrates the group that forges friendships between students from Carroll and St. Katherine’s, which operates inside the Carroll building and serves teens and young adults with intellectual impairments.

The Best Buddies assembly, which typically is an annual event, was the first held in three years. The previous years’ festivities had been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which both kept students out of school and, after they returned, brought on social distancing requirements that made large assemblies impossible.

“It was great getting to spend time together and celebrate inclusion,” said St. Katherine teacher Ms. Bridget Mscisz. “Due to COVID we have had limited opportunities over the past three years to come together as one community and it felt great to have the chance to spend time together! I felt that we had a chance to “reintroduce” our St. Katherine students, especially to those who were not familiar with our school and program. It was great to bring back this assembly after a three-year hiatus. We love spending time together and its great to have the chance to celebrate together and remember that even though we may not all have classes together we are all one community!”

Part of Thursday’s assembly was devoted to a Family Feud game hosted by Carroll senior and Best Buddy Mary Matey. Students were asked various questions about St. Katherine’s students’ favorite things, such as restaurants, colors, favorite food, favorite thing to cook, favorite teachers, and favorite event. 

“Being the game host was so much fun and I loved it,” Matey said. “I love doing anything for Best Buddies or the SKS students because of the friends I have made there.”

Best Buddies vice president Rebecca Wallgren called the assembly “a huge success.”

“While planning, we were very worried about how to captivate the audience, especially because most of the students were not familiar with Best Buddies,” Wallgren said. “In the end, I think we accurately demonstrated how fun and easy it is to get involved in Best Buddies and we hope that it helped to grow the program for future years.”