Roeper Gives Back With Several Charitable Initiatives

February 14, 2012

The Roeper School (Roeper), a co-educational day school for gifted children, recently finalized several winter giving back, charitable initiatives that students had been working on to support the community. Roeper Interim Head of School Philip Deely made the announcement.

While Roeper students are always encouraged to give back to the community, it is the students who make the decisions on which organizations they would like to support. It is also the students who primarily run each charitable initiative and decide how money will be raised. This not only gives the students a sense of ownership, but also makes them more in touch with those in need outside of their school and homes.

Roeper’s winter giving back programs were a result of the following initiatives:

Roeper students recently celebrated “spirit week,” a fun, week-long event that also incorporated a charitable component. The grade that won spirit week was determined by the amount of money and supplies raised for charity, in addition to the physical challenges won each day of the competition. Two students per grade made up the “spirit week charity committee” and those students selected the charities that would benefit from the competition. This year, the senior class won and altogether Roeper students raised approximately $5,000 in monetary donations and school equipment and supplies for the Cystic Fibrosis Association and the Maybury School in Detroit, Mich. While a check will be submitted to support Cystic Fibrosis, Roeper Teacher and Spirit Week Director Ed Sack will assemble a team of students to deliver the school supplies and equipment to the Maybury Elementary School, which Roeper already has an existing relationship with for a mentor and reading program.The Stage II students in teacher Sarah Baker’s class at Roeper had the unique opportunity of making and donating scarves to families in need. Each Stage II child cut, sewed and tied the material for their scarves, and then donated all of the scarves to Roeper student Eli Simon’s, of Southfield, ongoing program of collecting essentials for those in need. All of the items have been donated to local shelters.Last week, Roeper elementary students donated $200 to Birmingham, Mich.-based Bottomless Toy Chest. The funds were raised as part of the students’ ongoing bagel sale program. This initiative allows all profits from the students’ sale of bagels to be donated to a variety of charities and causes throughout the year. In addition to the donation to the Bottomless Toy Chest, the group of students has also helped fund student Mac Lancaster’s fair trade awareness program. In this program, Mac sells Fair Trade Chocolate in an effort to inform people of the issues concerning fair trade and let people know that you can purchase chocolate from fair trade supporting organizations. With each piece of chocolate bought, consumers also receive printed information on how to support fair trade.Students at the Roeper Lower School recently competed in the WOMC Food Fight, a month-long food drive that collected food and donations to help support Gleaner’s Community Food Bank. This year, Roeper competed against Berkshire Middle School and out-collected the competition by raising 1,257 pounds of food and $2,607 in monetary donations. Roeper students’ efforts will provide a total of 8,788 meals to community members in need during these cold winter months.

Founded in 1941, The Roeper School is a uniquely personalized, coeducational school for gifted and talented children in preschool through grade 12 from over 60 communities in southeast Michigan. With campuses in Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Roeper was conceived on founding principles that recognize the power of education, choice and self-expression, and the transformative impact these principles have on young minds.