Gearing Up 1st Graders Through Craigslist

--by katlampi, posted Aug 10, 2008

I frequently flip through Craigslist just because I find human nature to be absolutely fascinating. Well, one day I found a post from a teacher looking for help. She taught at a grade school in Oregon, and each classroom got to pick a university to learn about, as a way to encourage the kids to go to college some day. It was a rural school in a poorer area, and evidently a lot of kids didn’t stay on track, so this was an important project to the teacher. Her first graders had picked my alma mater, the University of Michigan, as their university of choice for the project, and she was asking for volunteers to send Michigan spirit wear for her students.

I wanted to send something because I thought it was a really cool idea. Education is one of the causes that I am looking to get more involved in. So I sent them a Michiganopoly game, along with some of my old football tees and pictures of the campus. Unfortunately it still came up to be a small pile, so I did some networking and spoke with reps from the Office of Greek Life.

The Greeks print out tee-shirts for football season every year and we always have A TON left over. Since they do not say each fraternity and sorority’s letters on them, I figured it would be okay to give them to kids to wear. The Office of Greek Life agreed to gather up 26 leftover tees, and send them to the kids. These first graders were so excited that the teacher says they put the shirts on and walked up and down the hallways singing the Michigan fight song, and chanting Go Blue. She would say “Go” and the kids would answer “Blue.” It sounded cute.

3431 Reads

Posted by katlampi
Aug 10, 2008
Comments (9)

Readers Comments

BedBug wrote: Brilliant teacher and wonderful you!

makethemsmile wrote: THANK YOU,THANK YOU,THANK YOU FOR GIVING HOPE AND HAPPINESS TO THOSE CHILDREN.I CARE.

lovebug wrote: That teacher deserves A plus, and you do to for helping her inspire the first graders,A spark of life planted so young will help them grow tall.

warmth wrote: kudos and thank u for inspiring thru ur story

bharni wrote: Wow! Very inspiring! Thanks for sharing:)

irongrace wrote: you took the next step and went the extra mile. congratulations.

perseverance wrote: I am impressed by this thanks

AURELIA wrote: WOW you did your homework! Good for you. I am inspired by your enthusiasm. These kids will definitely love all that you have done. Thank you for caring. :) ~Aurelia

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