FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 29, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 37
Photo courtesy of Paige Benson
kids & education
Astoria elementary school teacher funds new t-shirt club
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Paige Benson, an elementary school
teacher at P.S. 17 Henry David Th oreau in
Astoria, received help from the community
to establish a t-shirt club so that her students
can create shirts for school events.
Benson, who teaches fourth- and fi ft hgrade
special education, used donorschoose.
org to help fund this initiative, which she
called “Hot Off Th e Press.”
Donors Choose was started in 2000 by a
public school teacher in the Bronx. Aft er
realizing how much money teachers spent
on supplies, he created this nonprofi t to
help educators fund specifi c projects with
help from people across the country.
“Donors Choose has been a blessing to
our school and my classroom,” Benson
said. “Currently, our school does not have
much recess equipment so we are trying
to start some lunch time clubs where students
can build up confi dence to interact
with peers and adults, as well as develop a
sense of responsibility and have access to
activities they have interest in.”
Benson worked with another teacher
and a supervisor to gauge students’
interest and requested $621 for a Cricut
Explore Air 2 Machine, which will allow
the students to create and cut designs on
vinyl, and a heat press machine to adhere
the designs on to the shirts.
Benson said the students will work
on smaller projects fi rst like designing
staff t-shirts that they can sell to raise
money for materials, shirts for an aft erschool
club like cheerleading or helping
to make costumes for the school’s Disney
on Broadway production.
P.S. 17 is a Title 1 school, which means
a high number of the students come from
low-income families and according to
Benson, some of her students are also
English Language Learners.
“My students are extremely inquisitive
and always asking questions and looking
to explore new ideas on a daily basis,”
she wrote in the fundraising page. “We
believe this project will help our students
in the regard to art, creativity, fl exibility,
patience and responsibility.”
Benson, who has been teaching for 10
years, said Donors Choose has been able
to help her fund a number of projects. Th e
nonprofi t has allowed her to purchase fl exible
seating for her class, pouches for girls to
put their personal items in, and people also
helped fund a trip to Build-A-Bear to create
personal companions for students.
Last winter, a P.S. 17 alum stumbled
upon her fundraising page and helped to
bring her students on a trip to watch the
movie “Wonder.”
Benson is a voluntary ambassador for the
organization and encourages other teachers
to use Donors Choose to fund class projects.
If you’re a teacher and interested in
signing up for an account, email Benson
at Pbenson2@schools.nyc.gov with any
questions.
An elementary school class at P.S. 17 receives a tablet charging station with help from Donors Choose.
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