SPPSF Home
 
 
9/28/05 SPPS Foundation donates $2,000 to Hurricane Relief Efforts

9/16/05 SPPS Foundation announces Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

6/30/05 SPPS Foundation Provides Scholarships to Summer Youth Program

12/2/05 Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort helps many in need

12/2/05  
Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort helps many in need
Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation
Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation would like to thank everyone who donated to our Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort. The foundation recently donated $3,381.47 to the Salvation Army to purchase school supplies for students relocating to Minnesota.

As fate would have it, on the day a school district official visited the state’s emergency center, set up to help hurricane survivors, the director said that they had just given away their last backpack and she was extremely grateful for our gift.

Saint Paul Public Schools district
Throughout the district, our staff and students answered the call for help in creative and generous ways. Together with the Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation, more than $13,000 was raised by the end of the initiative.

At Central High School, the Central Touring Theatre Company wrote and performed “Katrina,” a play written with the assistance of a family who relocated here from Lousiana and who shared their experience with students and professional actors who crafted the play. All donations from the performance went directly to that family.

At Expo Elementary, more than 2,000 pounds of needed items such as diapers and canned food were collected.

From Battle Creek Environmental Elementary, to Hazel Park Middle School to Johnson High School, participating schools collected on average $530 that went directly to the relief effort.

As we enter the holiday season and reflect upon what we are grateful for, it is interesting to hear what some of the students in our district are grateful for. Please click on this link to read a recent poem by a student at Hancock Elementary about gratitude and a poem by a student at Sheridan who wrote about Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

I Am Glad
Sixth-grade student at Hancock Elementary
I am glad I’m not the person that sleeps under that tree.
I am glad that I have a living room that I can sit in on the couch.
I am glad that I have a bedroon that I can sleep in with a bed. I’m really glad.
I used to know the feelings of a homeless person.
I used to sleep on a cold floor with no blanket, no bed; unlike my friends that had beds. Sometimes I used to sleep in the chairs.
No cold food.
We had no refrigerator to put things in. We had to eat what we got right away. Somedays we had to starve. My stomach growled when I was hungry. No food and no water for a day sometimes.
Why did this happen to me? I think sometimes.
Sometimes I sit down and think of everything that happened to me.
I think about other people who don’t have the stuff I have.
I got food,
a mom,
and a teacher,
a brother and a sister that love me so much.
A teacher that cares for me and that helps me in my writing, reading, and math.
I am glad that I have clothes to wear.
Shoes.
A friend.
I am glad that I have a TV that can work.
I am glad that I have a mom that loves me so much, that will do anything for me to be a good person when I grow up, and that would go to work everyday for me to eat.
I think to myself sometimes. Why do I whine when I go to the store to get what I want when I’ve got so much in my life?
I feel guilty about it.
Why should I be guilty?
Well, I can’t answer that question in my own words.
But, if I could help homeless people, I would from my heart and my soul.
If I was a grown-up and had lots of money, I would give half of my money to the homeless and do what I can do.

SISTERS

Fighting and snarling
Who can be worse?
For the power within them
Is only a curse.
The destruction inside,
The regrets of life,
Is natures way
Of putting us through strife.
Obligate your wishes,
They may come true
For Rita and Katrina
Will never regret.
But we shall be strong,
Never give up
For the fighting will stop
So don’t quarry or shiver,
It will soon be over.

Dedicated to the people who suffer from the hurricanes and all of their losses of near and dear friends.

Written by a sixth-grade student at Sheridan Elementary
9/28/05   . SPPS Foundation donates $2,000 to Hurricane Relief Efforts

Young victims of Hurricane Katrina who have relocated to Minnesota have new school supplies, thanks to donors to the SPPS Foundation's Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. On Sept. 28, the Salvation Army was presented with a check for $2,000. to be used for back packs, pencils, pens, paper, markers and other school supplies. The relief fund is collecting monetary donations through Oct. 31, 2005.
9/16/05    SPPS Foundation announces Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

The SPPS Foundation is accepting donations to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who are relocating to Minnesota. Our first priority will be to provide school supplies to k-12 students, as well as to meet immediate emergency needs of families. Donations will be accepted through the end of October. One hundred percent of every donation will be given to families.

How to donate
Checks should be made payable to the SPPS Foundation. Note Hurricane Katrina Relief on your check and send your donation to: Rebeka Doyle, Office of Fund Development, Saint Paul Public Schools, 360 Colborne St., Saint Paul, MN 55102-3299. Receipts will be sent if requested.

For more information, please call Su Yeager, SPPS Foundation,
at 651-767-8110
  6/30/05  SPPS Foundation Provides Scholarships to Summer Youth Program

Students from Saint Paul Public School attended the Expand Your Mind summer academic enrichment program at Macalester College in Saint Paul thanks to the generosity of donors to the SPPS Foundation. Hosted by the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth (MITY), students participated in a variety of intellectually challenging, hands-on educational opportunities in subjects ranging from mathematics and creative writing to architecture, acting, and Latin Studies.

The classes deal with topics in a way that students might not encounter in a traditionally structured learning environment,” explains MITY Executive Director, Lucie Taylor, “We work with the whole student with the philosophy that learning and fun can go together; students explore a topic in depth, looking at things in new ways. In the long term this kind of academic pursuit makes a difference in children’s lives; it changes how they view themselves and the world around them. ”

Arlington High School freshman, Edwin Rosas was surprised to find that his experience in one of the program’s math classes was much more challenging and much more fun than he had anticipated, “I am new at this, it is challenging to me,” he said. “We get to go outside and design our own golf course, and then we program the course on our computers. It is very challenging to account for accuracy and how hard you hit the ball.”

Teacher of the Programming on Graphing course, Scott Greseth explains the dynamics behind his approach to learning, “We tap into the students’ fascination with things like video games and show them other ways to experience that. They might have an interest in math, but don’t know where that can take them. For many of them, this is their first look at programming; to open that door, just a little, to see that this kind of thing is out there – it’s very exciting.”

Eighth grade creative writing student, Grace Fohrenkamm who attends Murray Junior High School agrees, “I thought it would be more just writing and really strict, but it ended up being a lot more fun than that. We got laptop computers to use and worked on our own and in small groups. The teachers made it very fun; we would talk about things and act out things sometimes – it was about like everything!”

Our goal for every student is that they have a chance to experience the wealth of extraordinary opportunities that are available here in Saint Paul,” said Executive Director of Communications for Saint Paul Public Schools and Acting Foundation Director Su Yeager. We want every student to be as well prepared as possible to face the exciting and challenging life they have ahead of them. The SPPS Foundation is helping us reach that goal.”
     
 
Home  |   About: Mission/Vision . Goals . Priorities . Staff . Board  |  Giving: Options . Make a Donation . Recognition  
|   News & Events  |  SPPS Schools  |  Saint Paul Public Schools AllStars  |  Contact
55 Fifth Street East, Suite 600, Saint Paul, Minnesota  55101-1797