Play It Forward: KMS students raise $8K for LAPP playground
Members of the Kingsford Middle School Student Council stand behind the sign that shows the total amount raised by Monday morning for the Lake Antoine Park Partners’ “Everyone Plays in 21 Days” fundraising push for its playground project. Holding the sign, from left are Elise Rice, Pearl Pearson, Breeley Noasconi, Joyce Peterson, Kinslee Alessandrini, Ellery Olson and Claire DeRidder. Also shown are LAPP members Ann Hruska, Carrie Torella-Partello and Barbara Kramer. With an original goal of $500, they raised more than $8,000 in a week. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)
Seventh grader Cece Pipp gives her donation to classmates Halle Maki, Lyndi Burrell and Ella McLaughlin during the Kingsford Middle School Play It Forward challenge for the Lake Antoine Park Partners’ “Everyone Plays in 21 Days” fundraising push for its playground project. (Kingsford Middle School photo)
Lake Antoine Park Partners Treasurer Ann Hruska gives a piece of tape to Kingsford Middle School eighth grader Mariah Lewis to change sign for the total raised for the Lake Antoine Park Partners’ “Everyone Plays in 21 Days” fundraising push for its playground project. The middle school ended up raising $8,000 toward LAPP’s $40,000 goal. (Tamara Nash photo)
Members of the Kingsford Middle School Student Council stand behind the sign that shows the total amount raised by Monday morning for the Lake Antoine Park Partners’ “Everyone Plays in 21 Days” fundraising push for its playground project. Holding the sign, from left are Elise Rice, Pearl Pearson, Breeley Noasconi, Joyce Peterson, Kinslee Alessandrini, Ellery Olson and Claire DeRidder. Also shown are LAPP members Ann Hruska, Carrie Torella-Partello and Barbara Kramer. With an original goal of $500, they raised more than $8,000 in a week. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)
Seventh grader Cece Pipp gives her donation to classmates Halle Maki, Lyndi Burrell and Ella McLaughlin during the Kingsford Middle School Play It Forward challenge for the Lake Antoine Park Partners’ “Everyone Plays in 21 Days” fundraising push for its playground project. (Kingsford Middle School photo)
Lake Antoine Park Partners Treasurer Ann Hruska gives a piece of tape to Kingsford Middle School eighth grader Mariah Lewis to change sign for the total raised for the Lake Antoine Park Partners’ “Everyone Plays in 21 Days” fundraising push for its playground project. The middle school ended up raising $8,000 toward LAPP’s $40,000 goal. (Tamara Nash photo)
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KINGSFORD -- When Kingsford Middle School officials decided to do a week-long Play It Forward challenge to raise money for the Lake Antoine Park Partners' playground fundraising push, they set a modest goal because of the short time span.
Lake Antoine Park Partners launched its "Everyone Plays in 21 Days" campaign Sept. 21, with a goal of raising the remaining $40,000 needed to complete Phase II of its project to establish a playground accessible to all in the park.
KMS Assistant Principal Tamara Nash had heard about the challenge and immediately wanted to find a way for students to be involved. With Principal Jessica Garvaglia, they launched the competition Monday, Oct. 5, among grades five through eight, with an initial $500 target.
By mid-week they had already more than quadrupled that amount to $2,714.02. So they pushed it to $5,000.
They finished with just past $8,000.
The sixth grade won with $3,140.02, followed by the seventh grade with $2,340.30, eighth grade with $1,593.23 and fifth grade with $930.01. The winning grade will receive a pizza party from Lake Antoine Park Partners and some fun surprises planned by the administration. LAPP also donated some T-shirts that were given to students by random drawing.
But according to the administration, the challenge was never really about the competition -- they wanted their students to show up for the project and discover their individual contributions could become something much bigger if they worked together.
"We want our students to learn that being part of a community means looking beyond ourselves, recognizing the needs of others, and being willing to help when we can. Sometimes making a difference isn't about doing something big. It's about noticing a need and asking, 'What can I do to help?'" Garvaglia said. "We want our kids to understand that when our community needs us, we show up. That's what it means to be a Flivver."
The administration was grateful for the assistance of the student council advisors Caitie Dallapizza and Diana Peters for organizing the student council helpers and manning the kid power to make the challenge a reality.
Student council members created jugs for each grade, made money tracking posters, counted the money each day, distributed Power Tickets, and helped to build excitement throughout the school. The students also embraced the fun that came with the challenge. KMS introduced Power Tickets that allowed students to enter drawings for opportunities such as "pieing" a staff member in the face or, in the newest challenge, having the chance to Silly String a teacher. Each time the school reached another $500 milestone, another teacher was added to the pie or Silly String lineup.
"I liked helping out with giving out pie in the face raffle tickets when students made donations," fifth-grade student council representative Breely Noasconi said.
"The school has done an amazing job raising money, and counting all the money has been a lot of fun," eighth grade student council representative Dominic Tatangelo said.
The response extended beyond the KMS students, too. The school's social media posts about the challenge helped generate additional awareness for the Everyone Plays in 21 Days drive, and they were excited to see other groups inspired to support the playground project as well.
"We were blown away by how much they raised. Their original goal was $500 and to pull out at the end with $8,000. As the enthusiasm mounted over the week, you could tell it was going to be big," Lake Antoine Park Partners Treasurer Ann Hruska said. "And they just embraced this. It was so fun to watch. I think middle schoolers love a competition and they competed for a good cause here."
"And it will be theirs for the rest of their lives," LAPP Vice President Barbara Kramer added.
Lake Antoine Park Partners expected to meet its goal by the deadline.
What's been most exciting for KMS staff is seeing how invested students became in helping a project that belongs to them, Garvaglia said, adding she believes the playground will be a place for the community to gather, play and make memories for years to come.
"I think that this fundraiser is really exciting and for a really good cause. I love the excitement from all of the students when they see how much money we raised, and we hear the afternoon announcement with the new totals," sixth grade student council representative Tenley Dallapiazza said.
"I am so happy that our school has the opportunity to be a part of this," seventh grade student council representative Lyndi Burrell added.
Marguerite Lanthier can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 85242, or mlanthier@ironmountaindailynews.com.