West Newsmagazine 3-21-18
Local news, local politics and community events for West St. Louis County Missouri.
Local news, local politics and community events for West St. Louis County Missouri.
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<strong>18</strong> I SCHOOLS I<br />
March <strong>21</strong>, 20<strong>18</strong><br />
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE<br />
@WESTNEWSMAG<br />
WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM<br />
American Heart Association fundraising gets personal in Rockwood<br />
The student-generated, student-organized<br />
American Heart Association [AHA]<br />
event at Rockwood South Middle on Feb.<br />
28 is being called a student-with-heart presentation.<br />
Administrators say it was rooted<br />
in respect and affection, and designed to<br />
honor the efforts of a physical education<br />
teacher at Rockwood South Middle.<br />
Bob Koger, an eighth-grade physical<br />
education and health teacher at Rockwood<br />
South Middle, is the coordinator of the<br />
school’s AHA fundraising and heart disease<br />
health awareness efforts. He had set<br />
a goal to raise $2,500 for AHA by the end<br />
of February.<br />
The cause is near and dear to Koger. Heart<br />
disease had taken a toll on his family, claiming<br />
the life of his father. He made the cause<br />
personal by sharing the information about<br />
his family with his students. They, too, took<br />
it personally. Koger planned many activities<br />
to achieve the school’s fundraising goal.<br />
Activities included Friday Hat Days, AHA<br />
T-shirt sales and partnering with the school’s<br />
‘Where Everyone Belongs’ group to hold a<br />
mixer.<br />
Students were invested in the effort and<br />
took the initiative to help.<br />
But then heart disease intervened again,<br />
and Koger had to take time off when his<br />
mother died. The popular Rockwood South<br />
Middle teacher lost both parents to heart<br />
disease in the course of just three months.<br />
Without its point man, the school’s February<br />
AHA campaign may have been in<br />
jeopardy. But students stepped up their<br />
efforts. They organized a hot chocolate<br />
stand in the school cafeteria and raised<br />
money in Koger’s name.<br />
Teacher Amy Krueger said, “In my more<br />
than 20 years at South, I’ve never seen<br />
such a special outpouring of altruism and<br />
love from students.”<br />
Eighth-grade student Tate Kramer said,<br />
“We got involved because Mr. Koger was a<br />
big part of the American Heart Association<br />
project, so we wanted to help our school<br />
and him.”<br />
Kramer’s classmate, Olivia Drake,<br />
agreed.<br />
“We wanted to show Mr. Koger that the<br />
school supports him,” said Drake. “He<br />
really cares about supporting other families,<br />
so we just wanted to show him we are<br />
passionate about his cause, too.”<br />
Krueger said, “These girls checked with<br />
faculty and staff to make sure their pursuit<br />
was well-organized. The job they did<br />
promoting the mixer resulted in a record<br />
number of participants at the afterschool<br />
Rockwood South Middle teacher Bob Koger with some of the students who helped organize<br />
their school’s American Heart Association fundraising efforts.<br />
dance. All the money raised went to the<br />
American Heart Association.”<br />
Krueger said a number of students who<br />
organized the hot chocolate stand wanted<br />
to welcome Koger back after his loss with<br />
a special dedication assembly. Students<br />
wrote scripts. They put together a slide<br />
show and created an oversized check to<br />
present to him for the AHA.<br />
But they were not finished yet.<br />
During the assembly, the student organizers<br />
asked their fellow students to stand<br />
if they had worn a fundraising hat, attended<br />
the mixer or purchased any money-making<br />
hot chocolate. Nearly every student stood.<br />
Koger said, “The students, staff, administration<br />
and PSO at Rockwood South<br />
Middle School are an incredible community<br />
of people working together for the<br />
greater good. I am overwhelmed by their<br />
amazing hard work, compassion, creativity<br />
and thoughtfulness.”<br />
Krueger added, “The whole effort is a<br />
testimony to what a group of kids can do<br />
to bring their peers and adults together to<br />
show they have a heart for others.”<br />
Rockwood South Middle has demonstrated<br />
it is a school advocating for heart<br />
health, and filled with students who have<br />
good hearts.<br />
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