Second Annual Color Fun Run - a success in multiple ways by Lorraine Glowczak

It was a morning full of vibrant activity as eighty-five student and adult participants ran at the second annual, one mile, Color Fun Run on Saturday, May 20 at the Manchester School in Windham.

The Color Fun Run was initiated and inspired by Standards Based Teacher, Jess Carle and School Counsel, Jess Weatherbee to raise money for their students to go on school field trips that support project based learning. They believed this fun run would be a great option to raise those funds and to keep the children active. It was such a success last year they decided to do it again, with the hope that it continues to be an annual event.

This year, however, there was an additional fundraising effort, as fourth-grade teachers Adam Beal and Leah Fischer and their students, joined forces with Carle and Weatherbee to help raise funds for fourth grade student, Nolan Cyr and his family.

Cyr was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on April 11. His classmates and teacher, Ms. Fischer wanted to be of help in some way and thought it would be a great idea to participate in this year’s Color Fun Run to help Cyr and his family with medical expenses.

A couple of fundraising efforts have been set up to help Cyr and his family, of which the students wanted to contribute. One fundraising effort is through a website set up by Cyr’s aunt, Jessica Messina, and can be accessed at: www.youcaring.com/nolancyr-800022. A Facebook page has also been set up to list the various events and fundraisers planned at: www.facebook.com/fightlikeacyr/

Due to Cyr’s level of strength and determination to fight this cancer, the theme behind these fundraising efforts is: Fight Like a Cyr. “Nolan always says that, ‘cancer picked the wrong kid to mess with’ and I think he really got that part right,” stated Fischer.

And thus, the fourth-grade Color Run Team was the Fight Like a Cyr Team. It is important to Cyr’s classmates that he knows they care about him. “I want to make Nolan happy,” stated fourth grade student Carly Mazerolle. “I also want to let him know that we are here for him.”

“Since his diagnosis, he has been receiving support from the staff at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital,” stated Fischer. “He has been a huge trooper throughout the whole ordeal and we admire him for his strength and courage.”

Not only is Cyr built of strength and courage, but it also seems he is wise and thoughtful beyond his

years. “Nolan has decided to donate the funds he will receive from the Color Run today to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital,” stated Cyr’s mother, Angela.

Because of Saturday’s Color Run and the funds raised for Cyr, he will be donating $1,500 to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

“Overall, I am speechless with the amount of togetherness that this community has shown,” Fischer said. “From the fundraisers, to the students coming up with ideas on how to help, to the cards and presents that go home to Nolan - it all just takes my breath away. These students have shown what it takes to push through a hard time and Nolan has been the role model for that.”

Once again, it seems the second annual Color Fun Run was a complete success, not only in raising funds but also in the number of individuals who came together to make this run happen. “We are so grateful to have many community sponsors which we will personally thank,” Weatherbee said. “A huge thank you goes out to the Manchester staff and parents who not only came out to support the event and cheer everyone on, but volunteered to help! The event ran very smoothly and we could not have done it without everyone coming together and helping.”

There is no stopping a small community in coming together to meet the needs of its members. The students now will get to experience hands-on learning and discovery through enlightening field trips; and the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital gained extra funds to help other children in need.

The Windham and Raymond communities are there for each other and for one individual, in particular. “We are all here for Nolan and his family and, clearly, Windham is too. Fischer said

Community Day embraces new learning style by Michelle Libby

Every year Manchester School in Windham hosts a Community Day, a celebration of projects the students do to support the community and non-profits that they want to support. This year’s theme was, “Hands and Hearts Caring for our Community.” 
 

“This is the most special day we have during the school year,” said Principal Danielle Donnini. Fifth graders learn about culture and civilizations, she said. That means common values, ideas and goals. Common celebrations and traditions are a part of culture. “This is the one day we take a break to celebrate them.”

Donnini thanked the volunteers, parents, AmeriCorps volunteers, PTA and school board who had helped with the projects. 

“It’s pretty awesome, the projects and the celebration,” said Superintendent Sandy Prince. “The work is really important. Every year it gets better and better. The projects are relevant, meaningful and make a difference. It raises their awareness of the community.” 

Special guest speakers, on Wednesday morning, were Windham High School Principal Chris Howell and Windham Middle School Principal Drew Patin. “I was absolutely impressed with the work you’ve done this year,” said Howell. “You have the opportunity to grow up in a very special place. When you help another person you get more enjoyment, more excitement than the person receiving the help,” he said.  

The projects the students worked on this year mirror what will happen when they are in the high school with a Capstone Project, which is an individual project in an area of interest. Students will explore with a mentor from the community and help make career decisions, said Howell. These projects were a taste of what’s to come for the students. 

Last Wednesday began with breakfast for 400 people. Guests were invited to visit each display and table set up in the gym at the school. During the presentation, students and teachers presented checks and gifts to recipients.

“Last year there were 20 projects. This year we can’t capture all the projects,” said Donnini. “As teachers, we learned how to make learning more real, more engaging.” 

Teacher Carol Otley has spent 15 years helping her students build bird houses to share with people all over the State of Maine; with over 200 bird houses created by the students over the years. The bird houses have been placed from New York City to Katahdin, Aroostook County and all over New England. Many birds have been sheltered. This year bird houses were given to: Game wardens, Windham Police Officers Gene Gallant and Steve Stubbs and K9 Vader, a VFW veteran and Survivor winner Bob Crowley to name a few. 

“All of you are from Maine. Be proud to be from Maine,” said Crowley, who owns Maine Forest Yurts. “I’m almost 70 and I’m still giving back to the community.” 

Other teachers and their classes were recognized. Otley was recognized as VFW Teacher of the Year at the local and district levels. Sabrina Nickerson and Stacey Sanborn were honored with the Garden of the Month Award from Maine School Garden Network. Environmental educator Katrina Venhuizen from EcoMaine recognized Jen Ocean’s class with an Eco-Excellence Award 2017 for recycling. The class applied for and received a grant from EcoMaine to work on food waste and recycling at Manchester School. The school went from making nine bags of trash per day to one.

“The class saw a problem, which led to some research, but it takes all of you to make it work,” said Donnini. 

The experiential learning that happens with the projects is hands-on. “The projects give the students choice and voice. It’s not the teacher saying I want to do this,” said Donnini. “Students have their own voice and passion, which leads their learning.”

Judy Taudvin’s class each chose individual projects to work on, allowing the students to develop their own interests. 

Adam Beal’s class raised $400 to donate to Chelsea’s MS Walk. Another class made 21 pet beds out of old sweaters to donate to Harvest Hills. One held an Iditarod Read-a-Thon and another will hold a Color Run on May 20, at 9 a.m. One class sold Pokémon cards and has raised over $400 for the Preble Street Resource Center. 

Paton closed the assembly. “I haven’t always been a Windham Eagle. I have pride to be a Windham Eagle.” He is excited to have the students in his school next year. He said he was proud of their, “willingness to be creative, to be problem solvers.” Patton stated that he liked their creativity, perseverance and grit; and their willingness to make a difference in somebody else’s life.

Manchester School has outstanding attendance at its first color run - By Michelle Libby

More than 200 runners and supporters of Manchester School turned out for the school’s first color run
last Sunday. The cold weather didn’t deter the runners from stripping down to their white shirts and pants to run the one or two mile trail around the school to be sprayed with liquid color and then be doused with powdered color.

“It was awesome. The kids were having a great time. I didn’t know who was having more fun, the kids or the adults,” said Jessica Weatherbee, Manchester School guidance counselor.

Fifth grade teacher Jessica Carle’s class was the organizer of the event, which they started planning in September. Weatherbee and Carle, both avid runners, decided that if the students were game, they would host a color run. 

“This is a great fundraiser,” said parent Wendy Gaulrapp. “I’d rather do this than buy wrapping paper.”

The event raised close to $3,500 between registrations and concessions. There were also raffles donated by local businesses. 

“We were blown away by the participation and support from the community,” Weatherbee said.

The best part for Shiba Haddadi and Brooklynn Hennigar were throwing the color and getting some exercise, both were running the two mile option. 

Fourth-grader Jacob Lord, broke his shoulder the day before the race. He cried, but not because he broke his bone, but because he didn’t want to miss the race, said his mom, Stephanie Smith. Other students agreed that they couldn’t miss the event. Athena Nicholas walked the race with her sister Demi and her mom, Erin. They brought sunglasses to protect their eyes from the color. There were there to have fun.

“I was blown away by the turn out,” said principal Danielle Donnini. “There were lessons learned.” The class will go back and assess how things went and what could have been done better, she added. Asked if the school will do another color run, she said it was up to the classes next year, if they want to take it on for Community Day. 

The check for the total amount will be donated to Manchester School on Community Day, which was held this past Wednesday, to be used for various projects like the gardens, supplies for teachers, said Carle. The 24 kids in the class wanted to make sure that their fundraiser would help the school. 

If you missed this color run, Windham Primary School will host a color run on Saturday, April 30 at 9:30 a.m. Register for that race at www.wpscolorrun.eventbrite.com.  

Kindness Week at Manchester School ends with a celebration and a dash of color - By Michelle Libby

Last Friday over 400 students at Manchester School in Windham celebrated kindness at an assembly featuring skits, speeches and the introduction of a color run to take place in the spring. 

“The best part was last year fourth grade students approached Mrs. Weatherbee to start an anti-bullying club,” said principal Danielle Donnini. The team worked to create the name Team Kindness and met at lunch recess to plan activities. The group consists of approximately 30 fourth and fifth graders. 

 “It has evolved from September into today,” said guidance counselor Jessica Weatherbee. “One little idea can turn into something this huge,” she told the audience of fourth and fifth graders. 

On Friday, some of the team put on kindness skits showing how to be nice to someone who gets tripped or drops their books. 

The whole week was dedicated to doing something to help others. “They want to expand kindness throughout the whole school,” said Weatherbee. “We want to create a culture of kindness in the building.”

The whole school, led by the chorus, sang a kindness song about “reach out your kind-hearted hand.” All of it part of The Great Kindness Challenge, an online program that encourages schools to devote one week to performing as many acts of kindness as possible, choosing from a 50 item checklist. The items vary from smile at 25 people to walk a dog or cat. 

 

The school also held a door contest on way to show kindness. Many of the classrooms had interactive doors that had quotes and special touches to show and give suggestions on ways to be kind. One door was made to look like an iPhone with apps for kindness, for example Kindness Watchers (Weight Watchers), Teamwork, KindFlix (Netflix), FriendBook and InstaKind. 

Student Adrianna Libby said her favorite app was Stand up. “It’s about standing up for yourself.”

Donnini declared that everyone won the contest because it’s all about kindness and everyone wins when it comes to kindness. 

Donnini quoted Ellen DeGeneres, “I just think that kindness is something we should all have…We need more of that out there.” 

“This week reminded us just a little bit about how we want to be,” said Weatherbee. During the week the students were asked to bring in a food item for the Windham Food Pantry for the privilege of breaking dress code and wearing a hat in school. With a two day notice the school rallied and brought in 283 items to donate. 

The also held themed dress up days like “tied together with kindness” where kids wore curly ribbon and bow or neck ties, “crazy for kindness” where they wore mismatched clothes and the “dreaming of kindness” where the students wore pajamas. 

The students made iMovie videos about what kindness means to them and they continued talk about “creating a chain reaction,” which they learned about in Rachel’s Challenge. 

The Kindness Team has been meeting twice a month and according to Weatherbee, “the students are teaching and guiding me” about what they want to accomplish. 

“I’ve seen so much kindness and I know this is going to continue,” said vice principal Kristal Vargo-Ward. 

Weatherbee also announced that Mrs. Carle’s class will be organizing a color run as their Community Day project. Manchester hosts a community day every year to celebrate each class doing a year-long project to benefit something in the community. The color run will be a one or two mile, untimed race. Weatherbee, Vargo-Ward and gifted and talented teacher Jennifer Breton volunteered to demonstrate how the color run would work, with students tossing a colored chalk-like substance on their white shirts creating a colorful art piece. The color run is scheduled for April 10^th.