Nov. 17, 2022

Boyce donates 100+ books to partner school

Boyce Middle School raised more than $1,100 through a school-wide coin drive. All of the donations were used to purchase over 100 books for the Clairton City School District.

The “All for Books” coin drive was held in partnership with the Boyce Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and the Scholastic Book Fair. Through a matching contribution, Scholastic Book Fairs will match the funds collected with a book donation to literacy nonprofits serving under-resourced communities.

Coin collection boxes were placed in classrooms as well as at the book fair, which was held during open house. As an added incentive, the fifth and sixth grade Boyce teams that collected the most change won extra recess time. The honors went to Team Comet, grade 5, and Team Wind, grade 6.

The book fair and coin collection drive were led by Shanna Caplan, Parent Teacher Council (PTC) president and Boyce PTO volunteer.

“Shanna Caplan led the book drive at Boyce, and did a remarkable job,” Dr. O’Rourke said. “Early in the process she informed me about the All for Books Program and asked that I consider potential partner schools.”

Through his doctoral program at Point Park University, Dr. O’Rourke met Dr. Tamara Allen-Thomas, who began her post as superintendent of the Clairton City School District in July 2022.

“She is such a driven, passionate, positive, student-centered educator who has high aspirations of impacting students in the Clairton community, so I reached out to her to see if she would like to participate, and she was ecstatic about the opportunity,” Dr. O’Rourke said. “The staff and students at Clairton were so appreciative to receive over 100 books to add to their library.”

With signatures from more than 30 students, the thank you card from the students and staff at Clairton Elementary School is proudly displayed at Boyce Middle School.

Dr. O’Rourke believes that it is important to provide opportunities for students to learn about the value and importance of helping others by demonstrating kindness and selflessness.

“I am so proud of all of the community service projects that occur at Boyce,” he said. “Staff, students and the community are excited to participate in these projects, and the responses are overwhelmingly positive.”