Jefferson Hills Intermediate School CHRISTOPHER VERY, PRINCIPAL
T
JHIS Family Helping Others
he staff and students at
Jefferson Hills Intermediate
School have been busy
exemplifying the school
district’s Core Values through various
student-generated outreach programs.
Passionate students throughout our
school have approached teachers like
Mrs. Shauna Rometo (4th Grade) and
Mrs. Taylor Kanaskie (5th Grade) and
suggested great ideas to help spread
kindness to one another and those in
need throughout our world. Through
strong partnerships, our committed staff,
dedicated PTA, and supportive families
have all collaborated to help make our
students’ vision become reality. Listed
below are two examples of how people’s
lives are being transformed by various
acts of kindness.
Jonah Clonan, 4th grader at JHIS, was
inspired to raise money to help animals
in need after learning about a wild horse
sanctuary in class. He went to Mrs. Shauna
Rometo, his ELA teacher, with his idea.
In the wake of the catastrophic bushfires
in Australia, Mrs. Rometo suggested that
they help those particular animals. The
students learned that over one billion
animals had been killed and that koalas
could soon be listed as an endangered
species.
Effectively utilizing their Personalized
Learning Time (PLT), Jonah and Mrs.
Rometo worked together to organize a
fundraiser and decided where the funds
would be donated. After considering
profit margins and doing the necessary
research, Mrs. Rometo ordered 540 koala
pencil huggers to be used as a source of
fundraising. Other teachers, along with
friends and families of Mrs. Rometo and
Jonah, donated money to help cover the
cost. Mrs. Rometo also purchased and
donated three lifelike koalas to be raffled
off to a winner in each grade level. Each
koala pencil hugger was sold for $2 and
came with a raffle ticket. Additional raffle
tickets could be bought for $1 each or 10
tickets for $5.
Hearing about the cause, many more
students quickly became interested and
volunteered their efforts. Mrs. Rometo
said, “It is amazing to see how empathetic
they are towards the animals, and how
they understand the negative effects that
humans have on the environment and
42 WEST JEFFERSON HILLS
animals’ habitats.” They created flyers and
posters to advertise the fundraiser. They
helped to sell the items during lunch, also
collecting and counting the money.
The koalas sold out quickly, and the
fundraiser brought in a total of $1,552!
The money was evenly donated to
Currumbin Wildlife Animal Hospital and
Zoos Victoria. The money will not only be
used to rescue and treat injured animals,
but also to help the long-term efforts of
restoring unique ecosystems that have
been destroyed.
In addition, Jonah received a
personal letter and award certificate
from the Allegheny County Treasurer,
John Weinstein, recognizing him as an
outstanding citizen of Allegheny County.
Congratulations to everyone involved
with this impactful outreach program that
made it such a huge success.
In January, when the students in Mrs.
Kanaskie’s Fifth Grade classroom returned
to school, they completed 2020 New Year
word goals. A lot of the student goals
were kindness, empathy and Mr. Rogers.
When the class discussed the meaning
of the goal Mr. Rogers, they talked about
how Mr. Rogers always spread kindness
and empathy to those around him.
This year, there is a strong interest in
Mr. Rogers, stemming from 5th grade
student Ty Eber’s love for him. Acting
as Mr. Rogers has become an everyday
goal in Room 211 this year. Mrs. Kanaskie
encouraged the students to say they not
only wanted to be like Mr. Rogers, but
that they also needed to demonstrate it
with their actions.
The students decided they wanted to
find a way for JHIS to spread kindness
and empathy. With the help of Mrs.
Kanaskie, Rooms 210 and 211 worked
hard to create kindness grams that would
be sent throughout the school during
the week of February 10-14 leading up
to the friendship parties. The students
had the opportunity to draw up what the
kindness gram design would look like and
they could enter their design for a vote.
Of the eight kindness grams submitted
for voting, Caprice Kaasa, a 5th grader,
had the winning kindness design. Caprice
came to Mrs. Kanaskie and asked her if
she could share the credit and co-create
the kindness gram with Kalli Steggert,
also a 5th grade student. The girls worked
collaboratively to create the perfect
kindness gram.
Throughout all of the fifth grade
homerooms, there was a lot of teamwork
and cooperation to make this kindness
initiative a success. The students hung
posters around the school and used
the JHIS weekly announcements to
promote the initiative. During the week
of February 10-14, the students met with
each grade during lunch periods, recess,
and personalized learning time. They
met to have the students in 3rd, 4th, and
5th grades fill out kindness grams to the
students and adults of their choosing. The
5th graders encouraged the students at
JHIS to write a kindness gram to someone
new and think of a little note that could
brighten that person’s day. After all
students had the opportunity to fill out
the kindness grams, they were then
sorted and delivered to homerooms on
February 14 during the friendship parties.