By Dan Nonte, University Relations
The storm knocked down a wall at the school, leaving classrooms exposed to the elements.
The UNCG Teaching Fellows are raising money to help Harper McCaughan Elementary, a Long Beach, Miss., school devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Twelve of the school’s 55 staff members were left homeless when the storm struck Aug. 29. Even before the storm, about two-thirds of the school’s 534 students were from families with incomes below the poverty line.
When the fund-raising project began in early October, a teacher at the Mississippi school, Anne Ladner, told the Teaching Fellows via email, “Your efforts to help us will give us the drive to carry on.”
The Teaching Fellows have collected $8,500 and hope to raise $25,000. Their effort is part of the National Education Association’s “Adopt-a-School” program.
The librarywas left in disarray.
Ladner, who teaches third grade, lost irreplaceable letters and gifts from students and parents when her classroom was destroyed.
“That’s what’s really made everyone want to get involved in this,” said Emily Bennett, a sophomore Teaching Fellow from Morganton.
“We’re future teachers, and we see what the teachers are going through as well as the students. The teachers have lost so much of what they’ve built on over the years”
The N.C. Teaching Fellows program awards 500 merit-based scholarships each year. Students agree to teach in the state’s public schools for four years and receive $26,000 scholarships. There are more than 190 Teaching Fellows at UNCG.
For more information about the fund-raising effort, contact the Teaching Fellows office at 336-334-3410. Students are available to speak to groups or individuals about the project.
Every penny collected goes to the school. Checks can be made out to UNCG, earmarked “Caring for Katrina’s Kids” and mailed to:
Teaching Fellows – School of Education
Curry Building
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
P.O. Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
