A second-place finish was just fine with the Woodrow Wilson Elementary Wildcats.
The school collected one of 22 second-place grants – of $2,500 apiece – awarded as part of the national Lots2Give school grant contest sponsored by Big Lots Stores, Inc., a retail chain.
Wilson staff members, who helped enter Wilson into the contest, were on hand at Bartlesville's Big Lots store, located at 3001 SE Frank Phillips Blvd., on Aug. 2 to be recognized for the school's achievement. Also present were Big Lots officials, including district manager Ken Liberton and Bartlesville store manager Paul Shaw.
The grant money collected by Wilson will go toward the purchase of new locks for classroom doors at the school. The new locks will allow teachers to secure their doors more easily, which will consequently allow for more security in the building.
An estimated 1,350 Big Lots stores took part in the Lots2Give contest and several hundred schools throughout the country participated. The lone grand-prize winning school collected a $10,000 grant while three first-prize grants of $5,000 apiece were awarded. All participating schools which didn't take the grand prize or finish first or second were given $100 gift certificates from Big Lots.
“I think it's great that they have creative ideas and are willing to support us,” said Wilson principal Sandra Kent of Big Lots officials and their Lots2Give contest. “Through the contest, we were able to identify what are needs are and they were able to assist us.”
Taking part in the second-place celebration on Aug. 2 at the Bartlesville Big Lots were Kent, Liberton and Shaw in addition to Wilson educators Lisa Tennell, Vanessa Wallace, Kimberly Takahashi, Renee Toulouse and Tasha Posch. Though instrumental in helping the Wildcats to a lofty finish in the contest, teachers Kanda Hill, Julie Silva and Angela Holcomb were not able to attend the celebration, which included balloons, treats, an announcement over the store intercom and photos. Hill wrote an original song for the video entry which was submitted.
Kent initially mentioned the Lots2Give grant contest to a group of teachers over lunch. From there, Tennell spearheaded the Wilson effort with plenty of help from her co-workers.
“I'm really pleased with my staff,” says Kent, “that they continue to pursue things like this to make Wilson the best it can be.”
In May, the school was awarded one of 50 grants of $10,000 apiece nationwide through the Goody's Family Clothing Good Deeds for Schools contest. The money will be used to turn an interior courtyard which the Wilson school building surrounds into a Multiple Intelligence Garden, an area of approximately 1,920 square feet featuring paved walkways, benches, outdoor musical instruments, planting beds, a rain wheel and landscaping.
In the Lots2Give contest, schools were invited to write a 50-word grant letter while also submitting a video explaining how they would use the money to Big Lots Stores, Inc. Contest finalists were announced – Wilson being one of them – in late June and their respective videos and grant letters were then posted on the contest web site from June 30 through July 22. The public was invited to vote on their favorite entries – up to three times a day – on the web site. The eventual grand-, first- and second-prize winners were determined based on the voting results, which were announced earlier this month.
“Since school was out and we had to be creative as to how to spread the word about the contest and the voting,” said Kent, “we were pleased we were in the grand-prize running and won a second-place grant.
“The money will be put away to start a fund for the new door-lock systems. It will make it easier for teachers to secure their classrooms.”
Woodrow Wilson Elementary School was recently awarded one of 22 second-place grants of $2,500 in the nationwide Lots2Give school grant contest sponsored by Big Lots, Inc. Taking part in a celebration held at the Big Lots location in Bartlesville (3001 SE Frank Phillips Blvd.) are (from left) Wilson's Lisa Tennell and Vanessa Wallace, Big Lots district manager Ken Liberton, Wilson's Kimberly Takahashi, Renee Toulouse, Tasha Posch and Sandra Kent, and Bartlesville Big Lots store manager Paul Shaw.