By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
You can’t say the students and administrators of Red Bank Middle School aren’t resilient.
After budgetary shortfalls sent after-school sports to the scrap heap, parents banded together to form a non-profit, and are slowly reconstructing the school’s sports program.
Now, staff and students are pushing to fund class trips, which also fell victim to budget cuts.
Two fifth grade classes (art and engineering) launched an online video campaign seeking donations to sponsor class trips to Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Headed by 2011 Teacher of The Year award-winner Chris Ippolito and art teacher Kathleen Doherty, the minute-long video features students who say they want to be engineers, artists and designers and ask for the public’s help in sponsoring the trips so they can be “inspired,” and “discover new things.”
They’re nearly halfway to their $2,000 goal.
If you make a donation to the school, the students will pay you back with their work. A $5 donation will get you an emailed student piece of art; $10 donations get custom student pieces thanking you; and $50 donations will receive custom art in the mail.
Students ask that you spread the word any way you can: in person, through email or social media sites like Facebook. The student-created video can be viewed on the website indiegogo.
