December 18, 2007 — Cook Middle School students donated more than 1,800 toys to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, which were collected by two U.S. Marines today, just in time for the holidays.
Sponsored by the Cook Access Program and Math Department, the Toys for Tots donation effort spanned from Nov. 26-Dec. 14. First-year access teacher Jeremy Peagler and paraprofessional Denise Bearden helped lead the annual student service project as part of the students’ social and behavioral curriculum.
Students and principals made morning announcements and math teachers promoted the fund-raising event to generate enough student interest to collect more than one toy per student for a total of 1,855 toys.
The Marines who visited Cook informed the students that they helped Toys for Tots break their all-time toy collection record. The foundation will be featured in the Guinness Book of World Records next year.
The math classes that collected the most toys from sixth, seventh and eighth grade—taught by Kristin Berkovich, Denishia Nickerson and Cathy Briggs, respectively—will win a cookie party on Thursday.
Peagler said the spirit of giving has rubbed off on his students, who realize the magnitude of the donations, which will be given to needy children in the local community.
“I had one student say just a few minutes ago, he said, ‘Mr. Peagler, if we could get every middle school in Cy-Fair to do this, there’s no telling how many kids we could give a toy to next year.’ He’s thinking more globally about it,” Peagler said. “If one school collected 1,600 toys, and every school did the same thing, who knows what could happen?”
Cook Middle School access students display the 1,855 toys that they helped collect for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.
Cook Middle School students pose with a pair of U.S. Marines who came to the school on Tuesday to pick up the 1,855 donated toys for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. The Marines reported that this was a record-breaking year for toy donations and that the foundation will be featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.
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