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McKinley students raise $6,900 for St. Jude’s
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .The St. Jude Math-a-Thon was met with great success this year at McKinley elementary. After sponsor fundraising helped raise $6,400 for the organization, Bethany Evan (left), Laiken Maurer, and Bella Volpini wanted to add more to the total for St. Jude. The girls organized a pajama day where students and staff had to donate money to wear pajamas to school, and raised $535.54 that they added to the St. Jude's fund.
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Neighbors | Submitted.McKinley boys Zach Morocco (left), Matt Sperati, Kincaid Mrakovich, Brandon Barringer, Alec Catsoules, Chad Prosser, Cole Lavorini, and Justin Blasko came to school dressed in pajamas to support the St. Jude Math-a-Thon.
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Neighbors | Submitted.McKinley students Samantha Gurd (left), Katie Donnachie, Kaitlyn Battaglia, Kara Scuilli, Christine Tremonti, Aubrey Bodendorfer, Caitlyn Saxon wore their most stylish pajamas to help raise money for the St. Jude Math-a-Thon.
aBy SARAH FOOR
The fifth- and sixth-graders at McKinley Elementary have had a lot of practice adding up dollars and cents during math class for the last three weeks, as the students worked together to raise nearly $7,000 for St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital through their Math-a-Thon program.
During the event, math teachers at McKinley gave their students a math fun booklet and asked them to obtain sponsorships from family and friends.
However, to sweeten the deal, the teachers asked students to finish their booklets and bring in $5 to donate to the St. Jude’s to receive math bonus points.
The creative thinking by the staff got the ball rolling on the most successful fundraising year McKinley has ever seen for the Math-a-Thon.
“There are so many families that have been touched by cancer in one way or another and it’s personal for so many people. We saw an enthusiasm for the project this year that was really unprecedented,” said Linda Massie, the sixth-grade math teacher who led the fundraising effort.
After two weeks of fundraising through sponsorships, students raised $6,400.50. Nonetheless, students Bella Volpini, Laiken Maurer and Bethany Evan wanted to add a few hundred more to that total.
“In elementary school, we had pajama days and those were so much fun. Our idea was that everyone could donate a few dollars to wear pajamas to school,” explained Maurer.
After getting permission from their teachers and principal, the girls hosted a pajama day to great success, with a few teachers even joining in the fun. The girls helped add $535.54 to the Math-a-Thon fund.
“We’re really surprised it worked so well, but really happy it did,” Volpini added.
Massie will be sending a grand total of $6,936.04 to St. Jude’s, the largest sum the school has raised since it began involvement in 1997.
“The economy is tough lately — we weren’t expecting much this year. We’re immensely proud of the students for really bringing it alive,” said Massie.