Central Park Challenge is four days away and Manhattan Star Academy knows what it takes to have a successful fundraiser: Team spirit.  

The Lower School put together various fundraisers in May and has raised $979 and counting for Central Park Challenge. Students in all nine classes worked together to create the unique fundraisers with their teachers and other staff in the classrooms.  

“We wanted to provide a way for teachers to be more collaborative not just in the school setting but offer opportunities to plan events now that we are moving into more of a regular school year post-COVID,” said Julie Kim, Education and Curriculum Coordinator at the Lower School.   

The students at the Upper School supported their peers by attending the fundraisers and buying items. Some recent ones included a bake sale, lemonade stand, handmade jewelry sale, and flower bouquets the students assembled.  

“It’s about working on independent skills for the students that we are really targeting in terms of functionality, reciprocal communication, turn taking skills, waiting in line, waiting to get your purchase, money exchange, and math goals,” said Rosa Ramos, Lead Teacher at the Upper School.  

This is the first year MSA students had a hands-on experience participating in a Central Park Challenge fundraiser and putting the skills they have been working on during the academic school year to use.  

“Moving forward, this might be something we will continue to implement around the time of CPC,” said Ramos. “This is a great learning curve for us because our students really enjoyed it.” 

“For us, CPC is about raising awareness and celebrating our students, parents, and families,” said Kim, who will be attending CPC for the first time this year. “In terms of these fundraisers, we saw how willing parents were to participate and be part of this community, how they wanted to be included and learn, and it has opened up so many venues for parents to network with each other.”