Have you heard about Orkin’s Start with Science Campaign? It lets the public fund in-class learning experiences in public and charter schools nationwide via DonorsChoose.org. We were recently granted the opportunity to donate $250 to a project of our choosing – find out who we picked and why. Plus, you can win a $50 donation gift code to support a project of YOUR choosing too!
Next week, our children will be going back to school after a long summer’s break. We’ve had a wonderful, albeit exhausting, time this summer and we enjoyed a nice mix of both structured and unstructured activities during their time off.
Since the academic school year is much more challenging nowadays, we feel that it’s very important for kids to have their summers left alone. So in our family, we like to keep our summers as simple as possible. We spend our free time together going to the beach, playing in Grandma’s pool, exploring local parks and trails, feeding our chickens, and just being in the moment.
That’s not to say that we don’t sneak in some learning activities along the way, but when we do, we make sure they’re lots of fun. In our homes, that means lots of good old fashioned arts and crafts projects and a ton of messy STEM activities. No project is off limits as long as they’re willing to do most of the work and help clean up the messes!
Our passion for putting the FUN back in education is what led us to partner with Orkin this fall. We wanted to help raise awareness for the Orkin Start with Science campaign which lets the public fund in-class learning experiences in public and charter schools nationwide via DonorsChoose.org.
Orkin hopes to amplify this eagerness to learn through their Start with Science initiative, which provides materials to classrooms in need, making those experiences possible for your kids and children around the country. So far, Orkin has donated over $325,000 to fund 1,400+ projects for more than 123,000 U.S. public school students!
Each year, our children’s teachers work really hard to ensure that our children have FUN and LEARN at the same time. Over the years, we watched our children learn about the life cycles of butterflies, tadpoles, and quails and take care of classroom pets like snakes, hamsters, and turtles. Our children’s teachers understand that the school day is long and they try to get them excited about what they have in store for them each and every day.
So when Orkin generously gifted us a $250.00 gift card donation to support a project of our choosing, we knew we would support a classroom project from Bay Shore, NY. We have firsthand knowledge of what an amazing school district Bay Shore really is and we are so excited to be able to support one of their wonderful teachers.
After much thought and careful consideration about both Orkin’s goals and the available local projects, we decided to help Mr. Orofino at the middle school. Our donation to this project will help enable his students to “learn about Computer programming first hand using Chromebook laptops.” He also explains that in his technology class, students will “get glimpses into the future while understanding the past.”
It’s this last statement that really hit home with us. You see, our Grandfather was an incredibly influential in man our lives and although he is long gone now, his memory lives on. After he served in the Navy, he went on to become a brilliant programmer and loved to share his knowledge with us. As children, we would sit in his computer room for hours while he taught us how to program our names in binary code. It may sound bizarre, but when you’re surrounded by brilliance, you just want to soak it all in – even if you don’t understand it all.
We hope that with our donation, Mr. Orofino’s students will learn from the past while becoming leaders in their own futures.
But wait – before you go, YOU can help a school of your choosing too!
Simply enter our #DoGood #Giveway below and you could win a $50.00 donation gift card to help support the project of YOUR choosing! This is an amazing opportunity to help fund a STEM project at a school in need.
To find out more about Orkin’s project, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. To donate to a project of your choice, click here to pick your favorite project!
Do Good, Be Good,
Denine
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