Live Oak fifth graders reach out to 'Change' the world

FALLBROOK – For the past three years, Live Oak Elementary has been recognized as a Leader in Me school. The students, faculty, and staff have embraced the key principles of personal responsibility, integrity, vision, and teamwork. This lays the foundation for the belief that every child can be a leader.

Over the past two weeks, Live Oak fifth graders have stepped up as leaders, collecting change to raise funds for St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. They are excited to share their passion for the children of St. Jude’s and have asked the school community to bring in any spare change to help in the fight against cancer.

An example of Project Based Instruction, (PBI), where students actively explore real-world scenarios and apply their knowledge to acquire a deeper understanding, the project began in Kim Yerkes’ math class as a lesson to introduce a new math concept.

Due to the leadership of these fifth grade students, it has grown to encompass much more than decimals, predictions, percentages, and graphing.

The most exciting part of this project is the way the students are standing up as leaders and wrapping their hearts and minds around the children and St. Jude's mission to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Since St. Jude’s opening in 1962, the childhood cancer survival rate has increased from 20 percent to more than 80 percent today.

When the students were asked how this experience has impacted them, Juan N. shared, “As I look around at what we’ve done, I feel happy because of all the money we raised. It made me feel like I can do anything for the people at St. Jude’s.”

Luke H. said, “It changed how I look at other kids and their lives.”

Bridget C. added that “helping the children at St. Jude’s has helped me realize that I have a lot of things to be thankful for – like good health and school, at St. Jude’s they believe that a family should only worry about helping a child get better. I entirely agree with this. This project has helped me change my view of the world. Sometimes people need help and that’s ok. This project made me feel like helping people is my purpose.”

Initially the students set a goal of $200, but as of May 18, the fifth graders have far surpassed that goal – collecting $693.31. Each penny counts and every little bit makes a huge difference! As the students at Live Oak Elementary continue to share, “Together we can help St. Jude 'change' the world.”