Cocopah Middle School, Treasures4Teachers, Intel, and Soles4Souls are donating over 3,000 pair of shoes to help the people in Haiti

 

The Intel Corporation donated over 3,000 pair of rubber soled ‘clean room’ shoes to Treasures4Teachers. Treasures4Teachers in Tempe, Arizona is a local non-profit organization that collects donations of new and used materials from businesses and recycles the donated items to provide teachers with low cost classroom materials.

 

Louise Bunker (Technology) and Ann Achtziger (Service Learning) both teachers at Cocopah Middle School teamed up with seventh grade student Cole St. John in collecting shoes for Soles4Souls. St. John recently collected 628 pairs of shoes for Soles4Souls.  Together they contacted Soles4Souls to see if the ‘clean room’ shoes qualified for their program and if they could be used to help the people of Haiti. The students and staff at Cocopah Middle School added a personal touch to over 1,000 pairs of the shoes by decorating them with permanent markers.  Treasures4Teachers and Smart Practice also donated over 1,000 post cards so the Cocopah students and staff could write messages of hope to the people receiving the shoes. The shoes will be delivered to the people of Haiti later this month.

 

The final count is in from Cocopah’s "Hope for Haiti" spare change project resulting in raising $10,626!   Students were educated by the Service Learning class on the devastation in Haiti and then urged to bring in any spare change that they could find or earn to their first period class on January 29^th.   The entire Cocopah community showed their compassion, empathy and commitment to make a difference. 

 

Another incentive for the students was that several teachers and our administrators agreed to do a Buffalo Wild Wings Challenge if a certain amount was raised.  In addition, a teacher offered to let the kids shave his head.  The challenge took place on February 1^st.  The event was broadcast throughout the school and was enjoyed by all.

 On December 9, 2009, Cocopah Middle School held its school-wide Spelling Bee. Congratulations to Justin Wang, an eighth grader, for winning the competition. This group of class spelling bee winners was the strongest group of contestants in recent history.    Justin went eighteen rounds before winning with the correct spelling of pheasant . The runner-up was also an eighth grader, Jordyn Ochser. Justin and Jordyn went head-to-head for four rounds before Justin prevailed. It was a very exciting finish.  We wish to thank all thirty-one participants for the effort and maturity displayed during the contest.  Justin will now compete at the district level in January.  We wish him the best of luck. Go Mustangs!

Did you know state law (A.R.S 43-1089.01) allows you to a tax credit when you pay up to $200.00 for single filers/$400.00 married filers to a public school for extracurricular activities that require an enrolled student to pay a fee?  This means taxpayers may help COCOPAH-not the state treasury-and reduce their state tax bill at the same time.  Dollar for dollar-this costs you nothing!