Using their own personal funds, WiSH Education Foundation Board of Directors members brought much-needed school supplies and physical education (PE) equipment to Sequoia Charter School Wednesday.
“One of the most amazing things about this particular donation is that it came directly from the board members of the WiSH Education Foundation,” said Brandi Davis, principal of Sequoia Charter School. “A donation like this from the board members can have such a lasting impact on the students.”
The WiSH Foundation continues to impact schools within the William S. Hart Union School District; however, board members wanted to something special for the charter school, which offers a focused and collaborative learning environment through teachers, support staff and Educationally Related Intensive Counseling Services (ERICS).
“Having people bring us things is amazing because we are a school that has a lot of needs,” Sequoia School Nurse Lisa Wright said. “We have a lot of unique students here that we have to provide a lot of unique treatments and therapies to… These things are absolutely an integral part to our program.”
With the new PE equipment, teachers will be able to develop their curriculum and teach their students about team sportsmanship and collaboration.
“They’ve provided us with opportunities to teach beyond basic curriculum and expand on the different types of sports and activities that will take place in the classroom,” said Andrew Raskin, Sequoia School’s history teacher and PE instructor.
ERICS therapists said the donated medicine balls can double as both therapeutic use and activity use to increase students’ self-esteem, promote concentration, relieve stress and calm anxieties.
“They (the medicine balls) are so creative; they can do all sorts of things on them,” Sequoia School ERICS Therapist Dr. Roberta Rubin said.
The equipment can also be used to help the therapists with their efforts at school so they can facilitate conversations and ERICS services.
“Sometimes it takes a long time to get a child to open to you, but, when you have a tool, it goes so much faster and they open up and they’re able to access what’s bothering them,” Rubin said.
According to Davis, the WiSH Foundation has dedicated itself to focusing on alternative needs and alternative schools, like Sequoia School, this year.
“Part of living in a wonderful community is having wonderful schools, having productive citizens that are coming into society well-trained, well-educated, well-placed,” said Richard Cohn, incoming chairman of the WiSH Foundation Board of Directors. “By participating and supporting our school district and the children… it allows us to strengthen the community as a whole and invest in the future.”
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