Students Blow Bubbles for Autism

Schools and businesses around the nation stepped outside for a little fun Thursday at 1:15 p.m. for the Bubbles for Autism event.

Faces 4 Autism is a nonprofit organization that started the event in 2003, and the Ocean City Intermediate School jumped on board this year.

This year, the organization's goal was to have 37,000 people blowing bubbles in a (yet unconfirmed) attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. The organization is located in Ventnor, and the event is designed created to raise awareness of autism.

Janice Annarelli, a special education teacher at the Intermediate School, and Geoffrey Haines, principal, organized the event to teach the school to accept people with autism, including a few of the students with the diagnosis.

"It was something that was in the news a lot, and we wanted to make the school aware of it. We were teaching in the classrooms, and some of our autistic students actually went around and explained to the students about autism," Haines said.

At 1:10 p.m., the students of grades 4 to 6 gathered outside to blow bubbles for 10 minutes. Not one student cared about the rain that was coming down — it was all smiles as soon as they got to see their friends.

"When we spoke to the fourth and fifth grade, they actually had a lot of questions about autism. We have a few autistic children in the school as well," said Annarelli.