In recognizing a need to stock the shelves of local food pantries throughout the year, Wading River Elementary School’s Character Counts Committee organized a March Madness Food Drive. The community service effort proved to be the most successful in the school’s history with a final donation tally of 8,159 food items. All items will be delivered to local churches, veteran groups and area food pantries.

Photo courtesy of the Shoreham-Wading River School District

East Islip Middle School eighth-graders Samantha Ryan and Samantha Seibert, both members of the local Girl Scout Troop 984, recently organized a blood drive to support Team Taylor and achieve their silver award.
Both students attended the March 9 Board of Education meeting, where they gave a presentation about the blood drive and histiocytosis. The blood drive is scheduled for Wednesday, May 31 at the East Islip Fire Department, located at 30 E. Main St. in East Islip.

TEAMTAYLOR: Board of Education Vice President William Carpluk, East Islip Middle School eighth-graders Samantha Ryan and Samantha Seibert, Superintendent John V. Dolan.

Photo courtesy of the East Islip School District

Photo Caption: In an effort to assist those battling cancer, members of the Bayport-Blue Point High School Interact Club recently raised more than $1,100 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through their Pennies for Patients campaign. Throughout the month of March, members of the club distributed collection boxes in all homerooms and kept tally of the donations. Thomas Wulff’s homeroom class was announced to have contributed more than $300 alone. Pictured here are members of the Bayport-Blue High School Interact Club with a portion of the donations.

Photo courtesy of Bayport-Blue Point School District

Students in first through fifth grade at Bowling Green Elementary School in the East Meadow School District took a step forward in promoting heart health by participating in the schoolwide Jump Rope for Heart program, raising more than $9,000 for the American Heart Association.
Prior to the event, the students created posters that brought awareness to heart disease prevention. Covering the gym walls, the posters featured drawings about living a healthy lifestyle, not smoking, eating nutritious meals and engaging in 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
On the day of the fundraiser, the students divided into groups and exercised their heart muscles by jumping rope to popular pop music, generating a total of $9,408.

Photo Captions:

Bowling Green Elementary School fourth-graders participated in the schoolwide Jump Rope for Heart program, raising $9,408 for the American Heart Association.

Photos courtesy of the East Meadow School District

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MADISON, Wis. — Throughout the 2016-17 school year, Wisconsin student-athletes have paired with elementary and middle school classrooms around the entire state to work together through the Badger Backpack program.

The program, which is in its inaugural year, pairs over eighty student-athletes from twenty-one of Wisconsin’s varsity sports teams with more than forty classrooms from all areas of Wisconsin, as well as one classroom from California. Throughout the year, classes have had the opportunity to interact with student-athletes through a combination of healthy themes, interactive learning, vocabulary practice and reading literacy.

For the entirety of the school year, student-athletes and their paired classrooms have been virtual pen pals via Google Slides. To enhance this learning process, Badger Backpack incorporates weekly vocabulary words that revolve around monthly themes to encourage healthy habits.

“Badger Backpack is a great and unique way for us student-athletes to help kids elevate their vocabulary,” said Taylor Berry of the Wisconsin softball team. “Because we link each vocabulary word with something we do in our day-to-day lives, it makes it easier for them to understand, remember, and apply.”

In addition to being a practical way to enhance learning for elementary and middle schoolers, it’s enjoyable for both the kids and student-athletes.

“I love being able to make learning fun for the kids. It’s great to be working on skills that will help them in the future,” said Andrew Endicott, a senior on the UW football team.

Classrooms also have the opportunity to meet their paired student-athletes once per semester through either a classroom, Skype or UW campus visit.

“The kids loved hearing from [the student-athletes],” said Kris Carey, a teacher at Banting Elementary School. “It is so nice to see what wonderful young adults the university is producing.”

Badgers Give Back Connor Udelhoven Football Badger Backpack program
At the end of the day, the goal of Badger Backpack is to ingrain a desire for lifelong learning by engaging students in their academic development.

“Our Badger Backpack programming is committed to supporting pupils and helping them excel academically,” said Jackie Davenport, Director of Community Relations for Wisconsin Athletics. “By fostering a desire to learn at a young age, our student-athletes are able to become effective mentors who make a difference in others’ lives.”

To learn more about the Badger Backpack program and how to sign up for the 2017-2018 school year, visit our website.

Source: http://www.uwbadgers.com/news/2017/3/30/badgers-give-back-badger-backpack-program.aspx?path=giveback