Students raised more than $10,000 for PTSO

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

The students at Green Mountain School celebrated the last day of school with an ice cream sundae on Wednesday.

They didn’t eat the ice cream treat. They made it.

On their principal.

Ice cream. Syrup. Sprinkles. Whipped cream.

Students and teachers worked together to turn Jacqui Vansoest from a principal to a dessert.

It was all part of a celebration for the small K-8 school in north Clark County. The 168 students raised more than $10,000 for the local Parent Teacher Student Organization.

Construction at the school meant that the traditional fundraiser, a walkathon, had to be called off this school year. Instead, the school held an indoor glow run.

All the lights turned off, windows blocked, so students could run around inside the gym with black lights and glow sticks.

Still, because Green Mountain School had never done it before, no one was sure how the fundraiser would be received.

So school officials added some motivation.

“If they raised $5,000, they get to turn me into an ice cream sundae,” Vansoest said. “They actually earned more than $10,000.”

It is proof that this community loves its small school.

In fact, about 50 percent of the students at Green Mountain School are on boundary exemptions. That means parents go out of their way just to attend the school.

“We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods,” Vansoest said. “I don’t know what else you could ask for as far as an idealistic place to work.”

And for students, an idealistic place to learn.

An assembly was held Wednesday for the ice cream stunt. But before then, students from all grades received awards and/or recognition. Many of the eighth-graders raised their hands when asked who had been at Green Mountain since kindergarten.

It was a reminder for all the teachers on campus that these students are special to them.

“It doesn’t matter what grade you teach, all the kids are our kids,” Vansoest said. “We’re a family. We all look out after them.”

The parents, clearly, appreciate that.

“The parents want their kids to be here so we have a tremendous amount of parent support,” Vansoest said. “The kids … they have small classes. I think our biggest class size this year is 23, which is almost unheard of.”

The students, parents, and the community rallied around each other to raise $10,000 from just that one fundraiser.

The PTSO funds field trips for the school, helps set up a Christmas store every year for the students to do their shopping, and the PTSO helps teachers with any extra supplies they might want for their classrooms.

“All of it goes right back to the school,” Vansoest said of the money raised by the students.

And clearly, they have fun together after accomplishing their goals.