Warren Student Grows Own Pumpkins, Sells Them To Benefit Art Program

WARREN, RI — A Kickemuit Middle School student who started growing his own pumpkins sold them and used the money to buy supplies for the school's art department, Superintendent Ana Riley said last week.

Kickemuit sixth grader Owen Cummings, who lives on his family’s farm in Warren, had always wanted to buy his own tractor and learn how to operate it. This past April, after saving his money for several years, he finally purchased his own 1948 Farmall Cub tractor and began learning under his father Michael.

The Cummings family decided that Owen's first crop would be a large pumpkin patch, which he started to plow and get growing back in May.

At the beginning of the school year, the family learned that the Kickemuit art department was in serious need of supplies. That is when the idea for a donation event first came up.

As a way to raise funds, the family decided to hold a "Cummings Pumpkin Party" last month, inviting friends and family to pick a pumpkin at the farm and make a donation that would go toward buying supplies for the school's art department.

As a result of the event, the family was able to raise $548 for the school, and worked with art teacher Maria Camara on getting a specific list of supplies to donate. Principal Dennis Morrell accepted the donation from Owen and his sister Aubrey (an eighth grader at KMS) on Nov. 14.

"Owen and his father Mike put so much hard work into their pumpkin crop, and for them to use it as a way to raise money for our art department is such a selfless and caring act," Morrell said in a statement. "We are so fortunate to have students like Owen and the Cummings family as part of the Kickemuit community, and on behalf of the entire school, we thank them for their generosity."