CONWAY — When students in the gifted-and-talented program at Raymond and Phyllis Simon Middle School decided to raise $500 for the Friends of the Conway Animal Shelter, they did more than just put collection jars in classrooms.
The sixth-graders made posters with pictures of dogs that needed to be adopted, kept spreadsheets of how the competition among classes was going and encouraged others to make a difference.
“They were so motivated,” said Donna Adolph, the Conway school’s gifted-and-talented specialist.
When it was over, the students gave $1,531.68 to the Friends group.
It was part of a Think Tank project in conjunction with the Arkansas Educational Television Network in Conway.
“[The students] researched different needs in the community,” Adolph said. “They went to AETN, and they all voted on what project they wanted. The majority voted for the Conway Animal Welfare Unit.”
Adolph offered an ice-cream party to the class that raised the most money.
Shona Osborne, director of the animal-welfare unit, talked to the GT class about the shelter’s needs, Adolph said. She brought a Jack Russell terrier, Jackie, from the shelter, and he was later adopted by a fifth-grader’s family.
Adolph said students wanted to raise awareness of the plight of homeless animals, so they made posters featuring dogs that needed to be adopted. The project caused a stir within the student body, she said.
“They were all talking about it,” Adolph said.
Student Chloe Harder said it surprised her to learn how “almost all” of the shelter’s animals are owner surrenders, she said. “When the dogs — Max, Pico, T-Bone and Onyx — were going to be euthanized, that made me really, really worried, and when I heard they got adopted, it made me really, really happy,” she said.
Cole Vangsness agreed. “It’s actually quite sad how many dogs were in the shelter,” he said, adding that he felt better knowing the money would help the animals.
GT students who gathered in the cafeteria for the presentation echoed the same sentiments.
“At the beginning of this, we felt sad about all the things happening to these dogs, but now it makes us feel better,” Matthew Ablondi said.
“It was a lot of fun, and we got to help a lot of dogs, also,” sixth-grader Annabel Spayde said.
Chris Quinn of Conway, president of Friends of the Conway Animal Shelter, said it was impressive to receive $1,500 from a school.
“That was definitely a significant amount, for sure,” she said. The money will be used for “probably anything that comes up that the city doesn’t appropriate funds for that the shelter needs,” Quinn said.
For example, she said, if a dog comes into the shelter with a broken leg, and it’s a highly adoptable dog, the Friends group can vote whether to pay for the veterinarian bill to treat the animal.
“We do that kind of thing all the time,” she said. Also, the Friends group will pay up to $175 for a dog that needs heartworm treatment before being adopted.
Adolph said Charlotte Green, the district’s gifted-and-talented and Advanced Placement supervisor, and Karen Walker, community-education coordinator at AETN, devised the Think Tank.
Walker said AETN wanted to develop a “think tank,” so she approached the Conway School District and connected with Green, who said it sounded like a good fit for gifted-and-talented students.
The pilot program was held last year at Bob Courtway Middle School, Walker said. She said the goal of the program is to help students become community leaders by allowing them to “think deeper” and figure out how they can take action.
“They spend the first part of the semester just sort of brainstorming and then zoom in on an issue,” Walker said. She said the students spend “weeks and weeks” doing research on the topic.
Students then meet with Walker at AETN, and she asks lots of questions, including what the students learned about the topic that they didn’t know, what solutions they can act on and how they can carry the actions past their sixth-grade year.
Walker said the Think Tank program supports state curriculum standards for students.
Adolph said the students worked on math and writing skills through the project.
“It was so great, and then to interface with the community and the leadership element,” Adolph said. “The kids told me, hands down, this was the best thing they did all year.”
She promised an ice-cream party to the classroom that raised the most money, but Adolph said the classes did such a good job that she ended up sponsoring two parties.
“This was not just a Think Tank event; this was a Simon Middle School event,” she said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.