The ribbon cutting ceremony at the Humane Society of Douglas County included 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students from LSE | Explore Superior©

Elementary Students Raise Funds for Animal Shelter

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K-5 Students Support Humane Society

By Mark Howard

The Groundbreaking

In the Fall of 2014, Mayor Bruce Hagen invited Lake Superior Elementary School (LSE) students to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Humane Society of Douglas County Animal Shelter (HSDC). We feel Mayor Hagen invited our students because they represent the interest of the citizens of the immediate local community – we were honored.

5th grade students from LSE attended and participated in the ground breaking for the Humane Society of Douglas County in the spring of 2015 (Explore Superior©)

5th grade students from LSE attended and participated in the ground breaking for the Humane Society of Douglas County in the spring of 2015 (Explore Superior©)

Our staff talked about who at our school should be our representatives and felt our 5th Grade classroom would be the best fit to represent our school community.

Soon after our students were exposed to the purpose, need, and vision for the new animal shelter, our student council (K-5 students) started working on planning a way that we could better support the needs of the HSDC program and contribute to our community.

Fundraising for The HSDC Animal Shelter

Our student council moved our students and staff toward working together with the mission of generating money that could be donated and used to purchase items needed for the shelter. It was decided that students and staff would make holiday ornaments within the classrooms that would be sold ( $1 – $5) at our Winter Holiday Concerts.

The students and staff worked on the planning and the materials needed for each student in each classroom to produce individualized ornaments for this worthy cause. During the week prior to “winter break,” our school is a bustle preparing for classroom/family celebrations, our Winter Concerts, and our fundraising ornament sale.

Even though the week before break has interruptions on specific academic learning, our students learning was applied toward practical experiences as they “gave back” to our local community. This week’s collaborative work certainly brought us closer together as a learning community with a purpose and impact on others.

The Ornament Sale

The day of our Winter Concerts our library is dressed up like a “Holiday Store.” Parents and friends were welcomed to our performances and they had the opportunity to shop at and tour our Holiday Store. Overall, students are guided by staff as they built and sold approximately 300 ornaments.

During this ornament sale for the HSDC our students were able to generate $419 in donations, from a school student population of less than 200 students – the staff, faculty and parents of LSE are all proud of the work of our students.

Lake Superior Elementary Gives Back

After our winter break our student council invited the HSDC to our school for an assembly where we donated the generated funds to the shelter. Sheila Keup the Director of HSDC attended our “giving back” ceremony as a spokesperson for the project and shelter. Mrs. Keup also invited a family to the ceremony that had recently adopted a dog from the shelter (Rob Downs III family).

Important to note is that the family’s new dog “Hank,” was also able to attend. The combination of the power our students felt by doing something good for others, plus seeing an excited family making a new life for an abandoned dog, made a huge impact our our students and staff.

The Ribbon Cutting

At the onset of this community project we were aware that Mayor Hagen wanted to include our students at the ribbon cutting as he did with the groundbreaking. This time we needed to limit the number of students attending as a result of the limited size of the building and the ability to take a tour of the facility.

It was decided that this time we should give our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students an opportunity. To help select the 12 student representatives for those grade levels, we gave our students a voluntary homework assignment. All students were invited to write a persuasive essay that would show “why they should represent our school at the HSDC groundbreaking.”

We used specific grade level writing criteria to evaluate our student writing and were able to pick 4 students from each grade level to attend the groundbreaking ceremony.

Overall Student and School Learning

From the start of this opportunity in the Fall of 2014, to the culmination in the Spring of 2015, our students and staff were empowered and gained self worth by applying their learning from school and family to a powerful worthy cause within our community. Our students and staff remain grateful for this opportunity and look forward to many years ahead of giving back to our community.




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