Inspired by math class, Boyce Middle School students raise $1,000 for charity
For some students, word problems in math class are the least popular.
Using the left-brain for multiplication tables or long division, students have to ignite the right side of their brains, read a paragraph and solve a problem.
With this in mind, one Boyce Middle School teacher’s intention to give math some context to his students led to a fundraiser that raised $1,000 for charity.
It started last October when Matthew Dudley, a fifth grade math teacher at Boyce, started incorporating an imaginary company into math problems for his nearly 80 students. The company, Eagle Sweets – named after the team of Dudley’s math students, Team Eagle – is the fictitious candy and sweets company Dudley used in class.
“One of my teaching philosophies is to try to find ways to incorporate math and the kids learning it to the real world,” Dudley said. “Trying to give them any avenue I can, because we’re competing with so many different things with technology and so forth. … I wanted to connect it to the business world just trying to get the kids to see how the math is actually applied.
As the school year continued and Eagle Sweets continued to be an integral part of Dudley’s math classes, his students became attached to the fictitious company. Students began interviewing for fake jobs at Eagle Sweets, asking Dudley to be the “Cupcake CEO” and even creating a 10-member honorary board that included students Alex Berkoski, Reilly Caslin, Julie Cedar, Gabbie Deep, Evelyn Hertzog, Janelle Knierim, Katie Kucherawy, Anna Makoul, Emily Neiberg and Clara Senchyshak.
In April, a member of the board asked Dudley if there was a way to turn Eagle Sweets into a real company.
Following Dudley’s support, the board worked for three weeks to create a 22-page “business plan” for an Eagle Sweets bake sale to present to the principal.
“While the girls were presenting, he had a laundry list of questions, and they answered them one by one,” Dudley said. “They knocked it out of the park.”
After the plan was approved, the group had about a four weeks before the bake sale in late May. The team prepared for the plan, organized all 78 Team Eagle students and even had uniforms for the event.
“We baked everything that day, packaged it all that day set it up that day and sold it that day so it was all one day that we did this,” Dudley said. “It certainly showed the kids how much (work) it takes to put on something like that from start to finish and how the consumer good gets from point A to point B.”
The group made $350 at the bake sale, selling cookies, brownies, cupcakes and other desserts. In addition to the money made at the bake sale, Boyce student council agreed to match the amount, bringing the total to $700.
Then, three sixth-grade student council members, Sydney Rozzo, Hannah Eberle, and Laney Casares, wanted to make the total an even $1,000, so they raised $300 selling a homemade slime around their neighborhood.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Dudley said. “It kind of took over the school with kids, teachers and parents helping out. What I really enjoy about this is how it brought in all different sides of the school and the community to help out.”
The team and student council decided to donate the $1,000 to the South Hills Pet Rescue.
Kristi Parker, business manager and treasurer at the pet rescue, said the nonprofit company wouldn’t survive without donations like the one Eagle Sweets gave.
“We were so thrilled with those girls. That was so awesome that they did that. It absolutely helps,” Parker said. “It means the world to us that kids will go out and raise money for us so we can save more dogs.”
The future of Eagle Sweets is still in the air, but Dudley said the board will have a role on Dudley’s math team next year.
“I would say this group is probably going to have a hand in mentoring the group that’s coming in and take it to another level,” he said. “I know we’ve already talked about instead of doing just one night doing three different nights throughout the school night where we would sell goods and donate to charity.”
Dudley said it’s “surreal” that an idea to engage his students with word problems turned into a $1,000 fundraiser.
“Still to this day, I can’t believe it happened,” he said. “It was a team coming together and learning so much: about the business world, the math world and everyday life. It’s one of the things I’m very proud of as a teacher.”