Students and teacher help to keep scholarship alive in Nye County

Students at Rosemary Clarke Middle School have worked hard to keep a scholarship fund alive.

This year, the Kathy Gailey scholarship raised $4,000 thanks to the efforts of three hardworking students and one dedicated teacher.

Robert Nielson, a seventh-grade teacher at the middle school, created the scholarship for his fellow colleague at the school in 2014. Gailey passed away in 2014 and was a counselor in the Nye County School District, who dedicated nearly half of her life to children in Nye County.

Nielson liked the way the whole school came together to help them raise the money.

“It was an entire school effort,” he said. “It is awesome how they came together. I just want this scholarship to get bigger and bigger. One day I want it just to be able to run when I am gone.”

Each year, he said, the scholarship has grown.

“We raised $2,500 in the first year, $3,750 in the second year and $4,000 this year,” he said. “We get students to work on raising money for this scholarship to introduce them to scholarships.”

The three students who helped raise the money were Faith Patterson, an eighth grader, Josefina Monjaras, a seventh grader and Dylan Riendeau, an eighth grader. All three are members of the Builders Club at the school, which is the middle school version of the high school’s Key Club.

The students had to plan the whole fundraiser, which consisted of selling ice cream and a March Madness Money Match, which lasted three weeks. The money match competition was between the students and the faculty. The classes would collect money each week to see which class could bring in the most change.

If the students brought in more change than the teachers, the students would get some free time. The students won the contest and earned an hour and 20 minutes of free time on the Friday before spring break.

“We put in a lot of time at the beginning of the year,” Monjaras said. “We planned what days we would sell the ice cream and had to work together and work around schedules. It’s a good feeling to help out and be working as a team.”

“We met after school and sold ice cream during reward days,” Riendeau added.

The students heard about the scholarship from Nielson and had different reasons for helping.

“I knew students who were getting the scholarship and I wanted to help with someone else’s future education,” Patterson said.

“I was in Builders Club, which is for community service,” Riendeau said. “I learned from this that not everything has to be for a direct purpose for you. It can be for other people.”

Next year, Nielson hopes to expand his efforts to include another school, Manse Elementary School.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com