Leah Pulitano, a first grader in Mrs. Menechino’s class at Merrimac wanted to make a difference. She and her family have been raising money for the American Cancer Society.
“We lost my Nanny and my Grand-Aunt, who I was named after, to cancer,” she said. “My Poppy, Grand mommy, Granddad, and Uncle have all battled cancer. So many of us have been affected by cancer in some way. As part of my efforts, I am giving bottles to every class to fill with as much change as possible.”
Her big idea was to make a change one dime at a time. It started as an assembly that she shared her service learning project with all of the students and staff at Merrimac. Her family helped her collect plastic bottles, clean them out, and label them with her slogan. She delivered them to classrooms along with the flyers. Students started helping and spreading the word. Synergy happened throughout the month of May at Merrimac.
The result was $1,300 collected and donated to the American Cancer Society. The class that won was Ms. McDonald’s first grade group, which raised $335.
Leah shared the results on the announcements. She let her classmates know they were all winners and thanked them for making her dream become real.
“Leah is a wonderful example of leadership and creating a WIG (Wildly Important Goal),” said Merrimac Principal Veronica DeCicco. “She had an idea, came up with a plan, set a goal and found a way to synergize with the Merrimac community. She showed that what Dr. Covey states, ‘Synergy is more than two or more people getting along and benefiting one another. It’s when the combination of energies, resources, talents and efforts equals more than the sum of the parts–when 1+1=3 (or even more).’”