Charter school students help hurricane victims
September 22, 2005
Northeast Times, September 21, 2005
New school-year concerns like cool clothes, easygoing teachers and the "in" crowd took a place on the back burner for New Foundations Charter School students returning to classes. Burning in their minds was a more urgent matter: What could they do to help Hurricane Katrina victims?
It was a fitting attitude with New Foundations, at 8001 Torresdale Ave., within a curriculum centered on the social, intellectual, emotional and ethical development, yet principal Paul Stadelberger was still impressed.
"They came right in asking what they were going to do about it," he said. "What’s really amazing with our students is that anytime there’s an emergency, they immediately want to help."
As soon as school started after Labor Day, the students began a mass collection of school supplies and personal items to load into backpacks for students displaced by the hurricane. Teachers, parents and Office Depot donated the backpacks.
The packing activity commenced during the annual "unity-building" day of activities that launches each new school year at New Foundations since its inception in 2000.
This year’s theme, "A Caring Universe," inspired each class to design an imaginary "world" inhabited by community-oriented characters and settings. Jonathan Matos and his eighth-grade classmates came up with "Candyworld," a land where people and places are made of sweets like caramels and marshmallows.
"They ‘stick’ together," explained Jonathan, 14.
Stadelberger said it’s not unusual for the kids to have formed ideas even before teachers have had time to switch gears from lesson plans to disaster relief.
"They’re wanting to do things even before we start organizing," he said. Their spirit of initiative also caught the attention of the Institute of Global Education and Service-Learning, which awarded New Foundations with a Youth Organized for Disaster check for $26,000, making this the second consecutive year the school has received funding from the organization.
When last winter’s tsunami devastated parts of Southeast Asia, it took a mere two days for the students to raise more than $1,000. The prolific student body then went on to create 200 first-aid kits, 50 family-emergency packages and many playground-safety videos.<50> Since Katrina — like the Sept. 11 attacks — struck the United States, students seemed to relate to the victims even more, Stadelberger noted. And the idea to stuff backpacks, vice principal Robbin Smart observed, indicated strong sympathy for their peers.
"The first thing they thought of was, ‘What is happening to the children?’ " Smart said.
Chelsea Smith, 10, was shocked by the devastation and pondered what it would be like to endure a disaster. "I’ve never lost anything," said the fifth-grader, who said she worries sometimes about what would happen if her home caught fire and all of her possessions were destroyed.
Delia Sudler, 13, was "pretty depressed" when she heard the news.
"I asked my mom how I could help," the eighth-grader said. She immediately wondered about the logistics, such as how the supplies would get to the victims. (Stadelberger said a parent who is a postal employee arranged to have a local branch take care of the mailing).
Stadelberger said the bookbag-packing is only the first step and that the school would keep abreast of relief needs. Victims displaced to Philadelphia, for instance, might need coats and other cold-weather items.
"This is not just a one-shot deal. We’ll reflect on what we did and how we did it," Stadelberger said. "We’ll revisit this to ask, ‘How is our universe doing?’ " •• Reporter Jeannie O’Sullivan can be reached at 215-354-3038 or osullivanj@phillynews.com
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September 22, 2005
Northeast Times, September 21, 2005
New school-year concerns like cool clothes, easygoing teachers and the "in" crowd took a place on the back burner for New Foundations Charter School students returning to classes. Burning in their minds was a more urgent matter: What could they do to help Hurricane Katrina victims?
It was a fitting attitude with New Foundations, at 8001 Torresdale Ave., within a curriculum centered on the social, intellectual, emotional and ethical development, yet principal Paul Stadelberger was still impressed.
"They came right in asking what they were going to do about it," he said. "What’s really amazing with our students is that anytime there’s an emergency, they immediately want to help."
As soon as school started after Labor Day, the students began a mass collection of school supplies and personal items to load into backpacks for students displaced by the hurricane. Teachers, parents and Office Depot donated the backpacks.
The packing activity commenced during the annual "unity-building" day of activities that launches each new school year at New Foundations since its inception in 2000.
This year’s theme, "A Caring Universe," inspired each class to design an imaginary "world" inhabited by community-oriented characters and settings. Jonathan Matos and his eighth-grade classmates came up with "Candyworld," a land where people and places are made of sweets like caramels and marshmallows.
"They ‘stick’ together," explained Jonathan, 14.
Stadelberger said it’s not unusual for the kids to have formed ideas even before teachers have had time to switch gears from lesson plans to disaster relief.
"They’re wanting to do things even before we start organizing," he said. Their spirit of initiative also caught the attention of the Institute of Global Education and Service-Learning, which awarded New Foundations with a Youth Organized for Disaster check for $26,000, making this the second consecutive year the school has received funding from the organization.
When last winter’s tsunami devastated parts of Southeast Asia, it took a mere two days for the students to raise more than $1,000. The prolific student body then went on to create 200 first-aid kits, 50 family-emergency packages and many playground-safety videos.<50> Since Katrina — like the Sept. 11 attacks — struck the United States, students seemed to relate to the victims even more, Stadelberger noted. And the idea to stuff backpacks, vice principal Robbin Smart observed, indicated strong sympathy for their peers.
"The first thing they thought of was, ‘What is happening to the children?’ " Smart said.
Chelsea Smith, 10, was shocked by the devastation and pondered what it would be like to endure a disaster. "I’ve never lost anything," said the fifth-grader, who said she worries sometimes about what would happen if her home caught fire and all of her possessions were destroyed.
Delia Sudler, 13, was "pretty depressed" when she heard the news.
"I asked my mom how I could help," the eighth-grader said. She immediately wondered about the logistics, such as how the supplies would get to the victims. (Stadelberger said a parent who is a postal employee arranged to have a local branch take care of the mailing).
Stadelberger said the bookbag-packing is only the first step and that the school would keep abreast of relief needs. Victims displaced to Philadelphia, for instance, might need coats and other cold-weather items.
"This is not just a one-shot deal. We’ll reflect on what we did and how we did it," Stadelberger said. "We’ll revisit this to ask, ‘How is our universe doing?’ " •• Reporter Jeannie O’Sullivan can be reached at 215-354-3038 or osullivanj@phillynews.com
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