PHOTOS: Forestdale School 8th Graders Raise Over $2,500 At Fall Festival

Article and photos courtesy of Judi Lombardi, parent of a Forestdale 8th grader:

In September, a few students spoke with the 8th grade teacher team requesting a special field trip to Washington DC over April Vacation. The teachers, led by Ms. Phaneuf and Ms. Roberts, fully endorsed and supported their drive to do something unique for their final year at Forestdale and encouraged them to strive to make their dream a reality.

They set up a meeting with the school principal, Dr. Orme, who also encouraged and granted them permission along with a list of items they would need to address. In addition, the catch was that they had to be responsible and work for it themselves, not their teachers and not their parents.

As word spread, the few students grew to about 20 students, who immediately began to plan everything from where to go in Washington DC, how much they will need and creative ways on raising money to do it all.

Being an urban school, many families may not be able to finance the estimated $400 per student to visit our nation's capital, so not wanting anyone to miss this opportunity, the students set the bar high, trying to raise $26,000 to cover all 65 students in their 8th grade class.

With no time to waste, they quickly organized themselves and voted on running a Fall Festival. For the past two months, 4 days week, in between homework, soccer practice, football and volleyball, anywhere from 10-40 Forestdale 8th Graders could have been found after school working independently for this fundraising event.

Everything from phone calls, flyers, posters, organization, tickets, game booths, food, etc were planned SOLELY by the 8th grade students. An undertaking that many adults would find overwhelming, yet these 13-14 year old kids stayed the course and worked together towards a unified goal, to get to Washington DC.

After 8 weeks, this past Friday night, October 28th, approximately 40 students entered Forestdale School around 7:45 am, nervous that people would not come, anxious if it would all come together and hopeful that they remembered to do everything.

Determined and focused, the majority of them never left the school building. There would be no after-school snack or warm dinner tonight. As the night grew closer, students scurried around to set up their 11 game booths, 4 interactive activities, 3 craft/saleable item tables and an entire food section complete with pizza, popcorn, hot dogs and loads of baked items.

Other students were dashing from table to table, distributing tickets, displaying raffles, establishing the prize station and tuning the music. Within the first 15 minutes of the doors opening, the frantic atmosphere and anguish felt began to dissipate, being replaced with excitement, joy and relief as they found themselves in a standing-room-only cafeteria.

Over the next two hours, joy, laughter and generosity filled the over-crowded cafeteria as the students entertained their guests and offered a little something for everyone from making their own science goop and a gently used book sale to gord bowling and arguably the most popular event, Taping a Teacher to the wall (Thank you, Mr. Thain).

Malden has always had a history of unifying for a common purpose and this night was no exception as students were not only supported by their schoolmates, teachers and parents but also, mayoral candidates, field hockey and youth soccer coaches, friends and neighbors, all who stopped by to support these children.

When the evening ended, many happy, hungry and very tired faces could be seen around the room, some who’ve been their as long as 13 hours. And, although things were not always as smooth as they hoped and planned, ultimately, it was a raging success as they raised over $2,500 dollars.

For the rest of us watching, it was far more valuable than the dollar amount. In this day and age of the “plugged-in” teenager with a general lack of motivation and desire for instant gratification, how can you put a price on not just one, but 40 teenagers doing what most would say is unlikely, if not impossible.

The values of determination, perseverance, hard work, effort and responsibility have not been lost on this generation. And although they are a few dollars short of their target, how can we not smile with pride as a community, knowing that children like this are our future.

If you would like to contribute to their efforts, stay tuned as they have more upcoming fundraisers in the planning stages. Donations can be made to the Forestdale School PTO, 74 Sylvan Street, Malden, in care of Ms. Phaneuf-8th Grade Class.