By:Nicole Falco
One 5th grader raised over $600 on her own
When Maria Taliercio heard about the need for donations following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she was going to donate her allowance, but then she had an idea. Taliercio, a fifth grader at the Clear Stream Ave. School, decided to make American Flag pins.
To date, Taliercio has made over 300 pins after school and on weekends and has raised over $600. Taliercio has yet to decide which relief fund she will donate the money to, but the students and teachers at her school have decided they really like Taliercio's pins.
Taliercio is currently working to fulfill a request for 50 more pins made by two teachers at her school.
"She sold them all around. As fast as she can make them, people want to buy them," said Bob Cohen, principal of Clear Stream.
"It made me feel good...it's not really hard [because] I am always doing arts and crafts anyway so I figured it should be for a good cause," Taliercio said.
Taliercio put no price on her pins. She has received donations from 50 cents to $20 and said she simply wants people to be able to wear them. Her mom, Judy, bought the red, white and blue beads and ordered the pins from New Jersey.
"We didn't expect it to take off the way it did. My husband and I are proud of her, the whole family is," Judy said.
At Clear Stream the relief efforts do not stop at Taliercio. According to Cohen, the Student Council has organized a penny drive. Also, in a special edition of the school's paper, The Streamer, children's writings and drawings focusing on the tragedy will be featured. Clear Stream students are also writing letters to members of the New York City Fire and Police departments.
"Like every other American we [at Clear Stream] have felt the pain and misery everyone is feeling," Cohen said. "We expected them to be shocked and afraid...depending on their grade level we spoke to them in different ways."
Cohen and a counselor went to each classroom to talk to students about the tragedy. One teacher was directly affected.
Shaw helps its own
Elsewhere in District 30, two students at Shaw Ave. School lost their fathers and two teachers were directly affected by the attacks. Shaw has taken a personal approach to raising funds to aid relief at their school. The school raised over $800 selling red, white and blue ices. In addition, students sold flag pins at a recent parent/teacher night and will also have "United We Stand" T-shirts made up to be sold. All money raised will go the two students' families.
Like Taliercio at Clear Stream, three young Shaw students took it upon themselves to raise money for relief. One weekend after the tragedy, sixth-graders Jessica Galante, Stephanie Cabrerra and Maria Tricarico set up a lemonade stand in Valley Stream. They also sold candles, ribbons and flowers. The girls raised over $1,000, which will be donated to the American Red Cross.
In addition to raising money, students at Shaw wrote "We Care" cards that were delivered to a firehouse in New York City and have been participating in class discussions.
Forest students get involved
The day after the tragedy, the students at Forest Road School assembled in the auditorium.
"When a tragedy happens in a family they all get together. We [at Forest] are a family and we should get together," Principal Carol Kingsley told her students at the assembly.
Kingsley then went to each classroom with a psychologist to talk to the students. Her students have also been writing and drawing a lot since the tragedy.
To raise more money for relief efforts, "put your two cents in" jars were placed in each classroom. One student donated the $10 his grandparents gave him as a birthday present and another raised $5 with a lemonade stand.
Last week, the second graders held a school bake sale. Host foods donated some goods, one parent made cup cakes and assembled them to look like an American Flag. The rest of the baked goods were made by the students themselves.
With the help of their teachers, Taya Kelly, Melissa Renhild, Colleen Suarez and teacher's aid, Elaine Angelo, the students not only baked for the sale, but learned something too.
"Instead of moping around and feeling bad about this, here was a way they could feel good," Kelly said.
The students made shopping lists, measured fractions and time, all while making cookies for a good cause.
Renhild added, "It was a great way to get the classes together and talk about a sense of community...40 seven-year-olds [baked cookies] and not one of them said, 'Can I have a cookie.'"
The sixth-graders helped the second graders count change. All of the money raised will be donated to the American Red Cross. As for what went on in District 30 schools on the actual day of the tragedy, Gene Nyitray, assistant superintendent of schools, said the district followed its new state-mandated emergency plan.
"As of July 1, an emergency management plan was a requirement through Project Save...unfortunately we were called to test it very early in the school year," Nyitray said.
The plan calls for the designation of faculty members to oversee different jobs. Classes were not interrupted and there was a constant stream of parents picking their children up from school early.
"If there is anything good that came out of the [tragedy] it is the unity that has emerged," Nyitray said.
