Where there’s a will, there’s a way. In a remarkable display of cooperation, dedication and commitment all nine Turlock Unified School District elementary schools raised enough funds to send every single sixth grader to Foothill Horizons camp in May.
Sixth grade camp is traditionally the culmination of a student’s elementary education. Until last year sixth graders where guaranteed a spot at camp. But, two years ago, the TUSD Board of Trustees made the tough decision to cut district funding for outdoor education. The cut was delayed one year to this school year, when school sites and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) decided to take on fundraising themselves.
Over the school year all school sites gathered a total of $200,600 to send about 1,000 sixth graders to camp. Nearly $83,000 of the money came from Title 1 funding for schools with a high percentage of students from low-income homes and about $55,000 came from Medi-Cal Administrative Activities funding and grants
Parents, teachers, students and administrators raised nearly $63,000 from community fundraisers and donations. Unique fundraising efforts at school sites included Del Taco Night, candle sales, cookie dough sales, spaghetti feeds, read-a-thons, spell-a-thons, candy grams, movie nights, Save Mart SHARES drives and a jog-a-thon.
“I am so excited and happy for all of our schools, because of the amazing efforts of our parents, teachers, students and communities every student that wanted to go to camp will be able to go. This is great news,” said TUSD assistant superintendent of educational services Lacrisha Ferriera.
Julien Elementary School raised an astounding $17,740 from a PTA cookie dough fundraiser and Dennis Earl raised $2,000 from a spaghetti feed. Medeiros Elementary parents donated $5,000 directly to the effort and Walnut Elementary Education Center parents donated $9,000 through a spell-a-thon. Crowell Elementary raised $1,870 from a Halloween store.
To contact Jonathan McCorkell, e-mail jmccorkell@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2015.
