School Foundation raises $31,900 for education

     It was another successful year for the Monticello School District Foundation.

     The Foundation held its 13^th Annual Dinner and Auction on March 3 at the Monticello Berndes Center.

     The sole purpose of the organization is to provide opportunities for the Monticello Community School District otherwise not available through standard school funding, to advance the students within the district to achieve excellence in education.

     To help the Foundation achieve its goal, the dinner helped to bring in $31,900 this year. That includes advance ticket sales, the silent and live auctions, table donations, and the $250 cash drawing donated back to the organization.

     This year, much like past years, the Foundation honored one of its own for his years of hard work and dedication to the Foundation, and school district in general.

     Creighton Randolph has been with the Foundation for 23 years, starting in 1995. This year’s emcee, Chris Brokaw, noted that the year Randolph started was the same year “Forrest Gump” won the Oscar for Best Picture.

     “And much like Forest Gump, ever since Creighton got on the board, he’s been runnin’. Running around town seeking sponsorships. Running the Richmond Kromminga School Foundation Golf Tournament. Running to other towns to get silent auction items.

     “That gives you a sense of Creighton’s willingness to help. Always willing to raise his hand to volunteer,” concluded Brokaw.

     The July 28, 1982 Monticello Express contained a Letter to the Editor Randolph wrote seeking donations for a hot dog stand to run at the Great Jones County Fair. Brokaw read the letter, which indicated that proceeds from the hot dog stand would go to local charitable organizations such as Camp Courageous.

     Randolph, who joked he was suffering from withdraws as former Foundation emcee, thanked the Foundation for the recognition.

     He also brought two of his grandchildren into the act: Aisling Ryan, 5, and Nicki Ryan, 2.

     “When you talk about education, everything I need to know in life I learned in kindergarten,” Randolph said. Aisling just happens to be in kindergarten.

     Randolph asked his granddaughter if she plans to continue her education into first grade, and eventually into fourth grade, where her mother (and Randolph’s daughter) Lindsay Ryan teaches. Her reply: “Yes!”

     Foundation Board President Megan Brunscheen presented Randolph with a plaque that read: “The MCSD Foundation acknowledges the sincere achievements of Creighton Randolph for 20-plus years of dedicated involvement in the MCSD Foundation, and his decades of involvement in the Monticello School System. His legacy lives on in the thousands of students he’s impacted directly and indirectly.”

     The Foundation’s mission, much like that of the MCSD, is to prepare students through challenging experiences to be caring, productive, creative citizens who possess a desire to be lifelong learners.

     While Foundation dinner began 13 years ago, the Foundation itself started in 1988. In that time, the Foundation has supported many and varied programs and projects covering all grades, pre-K through 12, and all subject matters from the arts to math, science, health to social studies.

     The Foundation has worked to achieve its goals by providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to projects such as technology upgrades at all levels, textbooks and library books, microscopes, LCD projectors, industrial technology equipment, and so much more. The district’s arts have also benefitted from the Foundation with the purchase of curtains, lights, and a sound system in the auditoriums. Playground equipment for Panther Park at Shannon and Carpenter schools would not have been possible without the Foundation. The district’s athletics and physical educational program also saw boosts from the Foundation with the purchase of weight room equipment and installation of the all-weather track.

     Gifts given to the Foundation perpetual fund are invested and the interest goes to support so many projects within the MCSD. “The more you give the more it comes back in many ways many times over.

     “What better investment can we make than an investment in our future generations?” Foundation board member Annette Smith asked.