For the tenth year in a row, Stanwich students helped to save lives by participating in the St. Jude Math-A-Thon to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Students asked their friends and family to pledge a specific amount of money for every math problem they solved. The event, which ran for a month this winter, had an impressive number of students participating – 100% of students in Kindergarten through grade sixth chose to take part in the initiative.
Over the past ten years, Stanwich students have raised more than $331,400 for the world’s premiere pediatric cancer research center. These funds will help St. Jude in its ongoing fight against childhood catastrophic diseases. This year, Stanwich’s Math-A-Thon raised $25,452 for St. Jude.
“Our goal in holding this event is to help children who are stricken with diseases like cancer, AIDS, sickle cell disease and other illnesses. We always hold this event in the winter to link with the Stanwich value of Wisdom, demonstrating how children can use their minds to help others,” said Cynthia Hoemann, co-coordinator of the event.
When talking about his motivation to participate in the Math-A-Thon, grade fourth student Sol Hochman said, “I was able to donate money by doing math, which is a subject I love. I have always wanted to help people and stop disease. My hope is that I really helped kids for the better.”
In 2009, Stanwich raised the most amount of funds for the Math-A-Thon out of any participating school in the country. In recognition of this accomplishment, St. Jude, in partnership with PlayCore, rewarded Stanwich with $50,000 worth of playground equipment. Stanwich repeated the accomplishment the following year and was awarded an additional $50,000 worth of equipment. “We never told our students that winning a new playground was even a possibility. At Stanwich, we emphasize to the children that, ‘the gift is in the giving,’ ” said Mrs. Hoemann.
