A Wacky School Day -- Teachers, Pupils Ham It Up For Nickelodeon

Thanks to sixth-grader Natalie St. Cyr, homework was banned for a day, teachers and the principal were covered with green slime, and classmates spent the day playing silly games and meeting celebrities.

Yesterday, Marvista Elementary School became the stage for the Nickelodeon cable-television network, which captured the day of antics on film. Sixty-second commercials promoting Nickelodeon will be aired at various times between April and September.

It all began when Natalie's postcard was randomly selected from more than 700,000 other entries nationally in the network's third annual ``Nick Takes Over Your School Sweepstakes.'' Pupils who wanted to participate were invited to send in their names.

``I freaked. I couldn't believe it,'' said an ecstatic Natalie, describing her reaction when she found out she won last winter.

The mood for yesterday's activities was set immediately after a bus full of Nickelodeon personalities delivered Natalie, 13, and her 11-year-old brother Nicholas to a school filled with balloons and about 460 screaming youngsters.

Barth, a greasy-spoon cook played by actor Les Lye on ``You Can't Do That on TV,'' announced over the loudspeaker: ``This is going to be more awesome than putting your underwear on backward.''

Natalie couldn't wait to climb and crawl her way through the ``Double Dare'' obstacle course.

She squeezed through two large padded rollers called the ``wringer'' about half a dozen times while members of the 40-person Nickelodeon crew rolled their cameras.

After her last ``take'' Natalie described the experience as ``OK.'' ``Well, I was a little worried because I just got my ears pierced, and I thought they would get caught and tear my ear lobes off.''

Making the commercials and talking to the press was almost as exciting as the Nick events for some.

``I've been waiting for The Seattle Times to come interview me for a long time. Am I going to be on front page?'' Natalie asked a reporter.

The event may also be 13-year-old Gabriel Judet-Weinshel's big break. The network invited the eighth-grader from McMurray Intermediate School on Vashon Island to film the day from a kid's point of view for a two-minute segment. A producer-friend of Gabriel's gave the network his name.

``I've been doing this since I was 6,'' said Gabriel, who wants to be a director someday and has won several local video contests.

The wacky school day allowed youngsters to be grown ups and adults to be kids.

Perched on top of desks and chairs, Natalie's classmates chanted, ``Slime him! Slime him!'' as a bucket of cold green goo covered teacher Gordon Hearst from head to foot.

Minutes earlier, Hearst played a sinister teacher who handed out assignments and wickedly said, ``That's not too much homework is it?''

``I can't believe I'm seeing my teacher do this,'' said Daniel Bazan, 10, as he watched teacher become actor. ``I didn't think they would have any part in it because they're teachers. I guess he's a wild guy after all.''

Four other teachers also got ``slimed,'' but about 10 actually volunteered for the privilege, Hearst said. ``For a once-in-a-lifetime thing like this, I wanted to make it good for (Natalie). I think all the teachers feel that way.''

Besides a day of utter craziness, Natalie also won $1,000, a $250 wardrobe and a ``Mr. Wizard Science Library'' to be donated to Marvista. Mr. Wizard, portrayed by Don Herbert, explains science to kids through mini-experiments. The library is a collection of several experiments on videotape.

Herbert dazzled pupils when he showed how air pressure and heat can move a balloon in and out of a bottle.

Marc Summers, host of ``Super Sloppy Double Dare,'' where youngsters compete for points by either answering trivia questions or participating in a physical challenge, had the audience reeling with laughter.

A blindfolded pupil caught eggs with a set of cymbals. A teacher smashed eggs on her forehead. Youngsters tossed marshmallows, hoops and wet sponges at each other.

Teachers and parents who never watched Nickelodeon before screamed and cheered as loudly as the kids.

Nickelodeon has been the talk of the town, said Normandy Park Mayor Kathleen Vermeire, whose daughter Rachelle attends Marvista, the city's only grade school. Vermeire was on hand to declare yesterday ``Nickelodeon Day'' in Normandy Park.

Natalie said she watches the Nickelodeon network as much as she can.

Greg St. Cyr, Natalie's father, said he didn't mind because ``this kind of stuff is good and healthy. It's kind of the '90s Mickey Mouse Club.''

As for how other parents felt about their children spending a day frolicking instead of studying, Principal Walt Lobdell said several were upset. ``They were upset because they couldn't come. We just didn't have enough room.''