WINGS Members See The Results of Their Philanthropy at the Northfield Middle School

This past Saturday morning, several Northfield Middle School students and many members of WINGS (Women In Northfield Giving Support), a local philanthropic group, gathered in the Middle School’s media center to discuss and learn more about two successful programs partially funded by WINGS’ contributions.  WINGS President Nancy Carlson and middle school “media specialist” Amy Sieve discussed the Tattered Pages and Morning News programs at the Middle School, which were two of the nineteen grants WINGS awarded this year.  Tattered Pages allows students to “purchase” donated books using “coupons” awarded for good behavior or doing tasks around the school, while the Morning News is a largely student-run televised morning news program at the middle school. 

While students and WINGS members snacked on fresh fruit, scones, coffee, and Halloween candies, Ms. Carlson opened the program by saying, “if there’s one word to walk away with today, it’s ‘impressive.’” The two programs have been wildly successful since their inception several years ago, partially thanks to the funding supplied by WINGS. 

“Some of you may wonder why the money went toward a school,” said Ms. Carlson.  But she said that the Tattered Pages and Morning News programs at the Middle School were stand-out examples of the sorts of programs WINGS hopes to support:  "While WINGS supports tradition and innovative projects, it favors those which both inform and transform our community."

Tattered Pages

Both grants were put into motion by Amy Sieve, whom Carlson called the middle school’s “media specialist.”  Sieve spoke of her involvement with both programs, and said that she helped initiate the Tattered Pages program three years ago when she was involved with a PLC (Professional Learning Community) group that examined the results of standardized reading tests for 8th graders.  The PLC did a survey of 8th graders, 30 of whom had scored poorly and about 30 who scored the highest, and found that the "highest scoring students had lots of books in their home, their family placed a lot of value on reading," while generally, "just the opposite was true" for lower scoring students.  "So we decided we needed to get books into the homes of kids."

Staff “price and shelf” the books, and “traffic is constant” in the Tattered Pages room, which is open “all day,” and located just off the media center. Sieve feels that the school district is very fortunate to be part of "such a community of readers and people who support education,” and said that the large books donation bin (which was full of donations- almost 500 books- brought by WINGS members this Saturday morning) located outside the library is typically filled every day, which allows up to “one hundred books a day” to be in circulation in the Tattered Pages program.  Students "use play money, or coupons, as we call them, instead of real money," which they earn by donating books, or doing jobs around the school as requested by teachers and staff members, such as cleaning desks, organizing sheet music for the music department. Students may also be awarded coupons at the staff’s discretion, said Sieve.  "All staff members, including bus drivers, are given coupons each month, and when they see exemplary behavior or academic success, they award the students coupons.

There are "books for all ages," ranging from pre-kindergarten appropriate books to adult-level novels, and students can also use their coupons to purchase books for family and friends. The Tattered Pages program has two major sales each year, the first of which, the annual Christmas Sale, is approaching.  There is also a Mother's day Sale.  Each of these sales features free gift-wrapping for students who "purchase" books.  Sieve seemed particularly proud of these sales, which allow students to “go home with all their presents bought, and they haven’t spent any money.” Sieve says the Tattered Pages program will be "especially important this year," because it will allow students who are affected by the recession to do all their holiday shopping for free.  “Our students really love buying books for their family members,” Sieve said with a smile.

In addition to WINGS' support, Tattered Pages is also funded by the Healthy Community Initiative.  Sieve also said that she "mourns the demise of River City Books," because the store had previously been a big supporter of Tattered Pages.

The Morning News

Sieve then addressed the Morning News program, which began four years ago at the middle school and has grown “incredibly since then.” Although the program began with only three student participants, this year Sieve received approximately one hundred applications, and for the first time was able to accept applications only from 7th and 8th graders.  The news is written almost entirely by the students outside of school time.  Students also worked the studio's two cameras.

Sieve said that the middle school’s principal Jeff Pesta "believes enough in it [the program] to block off ten minutes" at the start of each school day for the program's airing.  During the program, which starts each morning at exactly 7:58 a.m., Sieve said humorously, "we have a captive audience of about 1,000 students and staff."

This Saturday morning, members of WINGS were able to sit in on a taping of three different news broadcasts.  About half of the middle school news crew was present at the event, and the adults sat in on tapings of news segments in three rotations.  Students made school announcements, announced the day's lunch menu, covered local and national sports news, answered questions, recited fun facts and "brain teasers," conducted the Pledge of Allegiance, announced community events over the weekend, spoke about the importance of a positive attitude, and played a segment called "Jake Break," which is entirely written, directed, and acted by one student, who submits the segments each month for Sieve to review before airing.  One WINGS member, also a parent of middle schoolers, said her children were "constantly" telling her about the latest Jake Break episode, and "how hilarious" it was.

The news program has also brought in guest speakers from the community to speak on important issues such as "health and wellness, and personal responsibility.”  Sieve also said that "our PLC groups are also going to be promoted through our video stream," so that viewers can get more information on PLCs, which have been a controversial issue in the district.  Sieve said that "our messages are becoming more significant," as the broadcasts become available to a wider online community. The Middle School’s website features a video of the day from the news, which typically has between 500 and 600 online “hits” each day.  

The program closed with a short announcement by WINGS communication chair Erin Mayberry, who announced that on November 17th, GiveMN.org will be giving away $500,000 in matching grants to nonprofits, including WINGS, who use GiveMN.org for online donations.  She encouraged members to donate online on this date.  In 2009, president Carlson said, WINGS gave $48,238 to the Northfield Community for 19 grants.

Photo by Shreya Singh

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