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There's more to education than just what students learn in the classroom. And that’s one of the reasons that school can be “cool.”
A Wednesday article on The Herald’s Community Page detailed how Sharon School District’s C.O.O.L. program was putting on a carnival to raise funds for a variety of programs involving students.
The Children’s Opportunities for Outside Learning began in 2000 with 120 students involved and it has expanded to 225 Sharon students in grades 3-12.
It’s a program that other schools — if they already don’t have a similar venture — could duplicate, providing positive results for students, parents and school personnel alike.
In preparing for the carnival, some parents joined with members of the Sharon Wellness Committee to help set up the carnival, which was held Saturday at Musser Elementary School.
It featured food, games, face painting, a Chinese auction and entertainment. The students themselves operated the games and provided entertainment.
The students have decided that the proceeds from the event will go to two main causes: the Backpack Challenge of Sharon, providing food for children on the weekends, and an SAT scholarship fund to pay for college-entrance exams.
The goal of this program is to help students develop abilities that will help them succeed in and out of the classroom. According to school officials, the year-long program focuses on parental involvement, recreation, academics, resiliency and creativity through activities such as tutoring and mentoring.
The C.O.O.L. program is certainly laudable and teaches students the value of giving to others. One of the biggest problems today for charitable organizations is trying to find younger people to meet the needs of people in the community.
While programs like this give students a sense of community spirit that can carry on to adulthood, it also teaches them that not everything important in life is learned in a textbook. Not only that, some life lessons can be fun.
How cool is that?
