Wow - we had a LOT of entries this year for our annual paper donation! Thank you to all who took the time to let us know why you thought your school should qualify! We heard from parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, school nurses, principles and assistant principles. It was difficult to narrow down who to send paper to, but we did our best for this year.
We decided to give away paper, stamps and other goodies to the following schools (I am sharing a part of the emails we received to give you an idea of who is receiving the Paper for Schools program):
1.) Theresa of San Jose, CA writes:
Hi Dave – my son (named “Dave”) is a junior at Willow Glen High School here in San Jose, CA. He is enrolled in 6th period Art, and as a special education student, completes many beautiful projects. I’ve noticed, though, that the media they use is always recycled computer paper. While I believe strongly in recycle/reuse, especially for paper, it always seems so sad that the special ed students have to always be the ones to use the paper the second time – why not first?
Then I saw your nomination process! I’m hopeful you’ll consider David’s school and include the high school students in your “Paper for Schools” project!
2.) Jery of Lakewood, WA writes:
My children both attend Lakes High School in Lakewood, Washington. Like every public school in the nation, our district budget has been cut and there is less and less to go around, especially in the art department. Our school has a large military population as well so the population fluctuates as deployments come and go, which sometimes means the funding doesn't keep up with the kids. My daughter couldn't even get into an art class this year because there was no room :(
Our art teachers would love to have awesome Memory Box paper to teach and create with! Please keep our school in mind and thanks so much for your generosity and consideration.
3.) Nancy of Baltimore, MD writes:
As educators, research tells us that our brain learns best when new information is linked with creative expression. I have found this to be especially true in my high-poverty school setting. Most of my students have not even had experience with Play-Doh, let alone paint or scissors and glue! But when academics are combined with art, my children blossom.
As you may know, charter schools receive some of their funding differently. And since we place such emphasis on the arts, our expenses are even greater than a typical public school so we rely on gifts to meet many of our needs. Often it is the teacher who is purchases paper and art supplies out of her own pocket to provide the “ingredients” for the creative arts projects.
4.) Darlene of Shortsville, NY writes:
First I want to thank you for doing this whoever wins. It is such a lovely gesture.
The school I am entering is the school where I am the nurse. It is BOCES Red Jacket In Shortsville, NY. Many of our students are from families that are struggling to make ends meet in this economy. The teachers and staff do so much with their own money to help out the children. It would be wonderful to have quality paper for their art projects. I can personally vouch that the children LOVE to make cards as evidenced by Nurse's day when our wall is filled with handmade cards to wish the nurses well. It is something that touches my heart every year and I scan through them looking for future paper crafters. Remember the first day of school and getting your new crayons and being filled with all kinds of ideas of what you could create with those crayons? Well imagine sitting at your desk and your teacher hands you Memory Box Paper? I mean could it get any better?
5.) Martha of Glenwood Springs, CO writes:
Literacy Outreach’s mission is to teach essential literacy skills. Literacy Outreach helps any Garfield County Colorado resident, 16 years or older and not in the public educational system, who a) needs to learn to speak English or who b) has difficulty reading, writing or completing simple mathematical computations. Literacy Outreach recruits and professionally trains volunteer tutors from the community. Those volunteers teach basic literacy skills to adult students who are at the lowest levels of literacy or English-speaking proficiencies – the “hardest to reach, hardest to teach” population.
Literacy Outreach would use any donated materials to foster creativity in our adult learners and their families. These activities would promote intercultural learning. It is never too late to learn to be creative! Many of our families will not have the experience of working with paper in a large variety of formats without your support and donation of materials.
6.) Carol of Rockville, MD writes:
Brookhaven is a relatively small elementary when compared to other schools in the county, although we are growing daily due to a high mobility rate this year, caused in part by the economic conditions. Many of our families live in shared housing arrangements. A 12 room new addition is filled to capacity. Last year we had about 402 students compared to this year's 470 students. There were 48 kindergarten students during the 2010 -11 school year, while this year there are 87. We have two half day pre-Kindergarten classes in addition to grades K through 5. Additionally, we have about 100 students (included in the 470) that attend PEP - a program for students 3 to 5 years of age who have special needs. We are also the area school for Language and Academic Disabilities (LAD) - K - 5 students with special needs. We are an inclusive school - students from this program are supported in the general ed classes :) About 66% of our students receive free and reduced meals (FARMS). Our school has a very diverse population and we are a Title I school. Under this banner we received additional support from the Federal government for a smaller student to teacher ratio. About 60% of our students receive ESOL (English Speakers of other Languages) services. Both the students and staff are fabulous. There is nothing like being hugged by one or more of our students at the end of the day - it truly makes what we do here meaningful because I believe that the kids know that we care.
Here at Brookhaven, art is an international language - it knows no dialects, sets no limits on students who do not speak or write English, doesn't distinguish about learning disabilities, but instead invites students to participate, create, and learn. We have two outstanding art teachers. What these two do with limited supplies - lots of paper plates and tempera paint (boy does that smell horrid!) - AND tons of creativity. As I visit, kids are learning new vocabulary, talking with each other, and are able to explain what they are doing and how it relates to "real" art. Masks, sculptures, ceramics.... What a treat it would be for these kids (and teachers) to have some really nice paper.
Thanks again to everyone for nominating - we'll be packing up cases of paper and stamps to send to some very deserving kids next week! Dave
