West Newsmagazine 5-20-20

22 I SCHOOLS I
May 20, 2020
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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Little princesses met big ones at
Dance Inc. on May 9. [Source: Dance Inc.]
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Socially distanced princesses
On May 9, Dance Inc., 15933 Manchester
Road in Ellisville, hosted a very special
Princess Sidewalk Visit.
Little princesses were invited to register
online for a chance to meet their idols
– a.k.a. Disney Princesses. Each child
was greeted upon entry to the Dance Inc.
parking lot and announced by the “Palace
Guard” as they were individually escorted
– safely socially distanced, of course – to
meet the Cinderella and Elsa.
The princesses, big and small, had a ball.
‘Teaching in Room 9’
What do the Nine Network and the Rockwood
School District have in common?
English/language arts instructional
coach Kristen Forth.
For Rockwood, Forth coaches kindergarten
through second-grade teachers. For
the Nine Network, she is recording video
reading lessons for children all over St.
Louis.
Twelve area teachers are creating educational
video segments for “Teaching in
Room 9,” which debuted on May 4.
The half-hour segments are shown
from 12:30-2:30 p.m. each Monday
through Thursday. They are broken up
into four categories: reading and math
for pre-kindergarten through first grade
and the same topics for second through
fourth grade.
Forth is teaching pre-kindergarten
through first grade reading.
“It serves children in the community
who don’t have internet access or reliable
devices,” Forth said. “Everybody can get
Channel 9 on the television. I love knowing
that we’re reaching learners and students
who maybe don’t otherwise have
access to getting the education that they
deserve.”
Marquette mask maker
When Marquette High junior Sri Rajan
heard her mother talking about the shortage
of face masks for patients and health
care workers, she wanted to find a way to
help.
For the past month, Rajan has been
making masks. So far she has donated
45 blue and orange face masks to Chemo
Buddies and 10 to local healthcare workers.
Additionally, she handcrafted 30 face
masks to be used at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
in O’Fallon, Illinois.
“I started the project during spring break
and was able to spend a lot of time buying
Sri Rajan with masks she has made to donate.
[Source: Rockwood School District]
supplies, finding the requirements and
organizing donations,” Rajan said. “My
younger brother helps with cutting the
material, organizing them and sewing the
masks as well.”
She sews in the evenings for about an
hour a day, using the skill her grandmother
taught her.
“I have always enjoyed volunteering and
since we are all quarantining at home, this
was the best way for me to continue serving,”
she said.
Parkway students honored
as scholars
Six Parkway high school students were
selected for the 2020 Missouri Scholars
100 list, a statewide program that honors
100 of Missouri’s top academic students in
the graduating class of 2020.
The Parkway students are Balaji Vijayakumar
and Mary Xu, of Parkway Central;
Matthew Christofferson and Veronica Sorg,
of Parkway South; Ronik Bhaskar and
Dawson Ren, of Parkway West
Each student nominated had to meet criteria
of an “Academic Decathlon,” which
included 10 “events” designed to assure
the academic strength of the student. To
meet the decathlon requirements, the student
must have a minimum GPA of 3.750,
a minimum ACT score of 29 or a minimum
SAT score of 1,900, be ranked in the upper
10% of the class, and have taken upperlevel
courses in mathematics, science,
English and foreign language.
Dynamic Duo: Local girls turn hobby into hope
By KATE UPTERGROVE
Quinn McFarlane and her friend Toni
Keeven like making bracelets for fun. But
in the past, time was limited. School, dance,
Girl Scouts and soccer filled up much of
the girl’s free time. Then, came COVID-19.
Activities for the second-grade friends
came to a halt but an idea took root. They
were making a lot of bracelets, so what
if they sold them and gave the money to
charity.
“We just wanted to help charities and
make money for people who are sick right
now,” Quinn said. “We like to give back.”
When asked what charities the girls are
helping, Quinn declared, “Cancer and
coronavirus.” Her mom, Sara, explained.
“We’re donating the proceeds of the
bracelets right now to Rockwood Gives
Back, it’s a program through our school
district. They help a large number of
people in the district but obviously right
now fighting the coronavirus is the priority.
Then, in addition to that, Quinn’s
grandma has cancer … so we’ve decided
to spread the hope to the Siteman Cancer
Center where my mom gets treatments [by]
making bracelets for the cancer patients as
well,” Sara said.
A dynamic duo, the girls have raised
hundreds of dollars by making bracelets
together while they’re apart.
“Obviously, we can’t be by each other
right now,” Quinn said. “But sometimes
she [Toni] comes over and we sit apart in
the yard and make bracelets. It helps us talk
about our business.”
It’s a business the girls dream of growing.
“We really want an Etsy store,” Toni said.
“And we would name it Midnight Moon.”
Toni’s mom, Kelly, urged, “Tell her why.”
“Because it was available and because
there is always light in the darkness,” Toni
said.
See DYNAMIC DUO, page 34