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Clint Keller | The Journal Gazette

Andaja Ensley, third-grader at Village Elementary, works in pajamas on Wednesday. She paid 50 cents to do so.

Education Notebook

Kids help Haiti and wear pajamas

Third-grader Cameron Fordham usually wears a uniform to school.

But last Wednesday she came to Village Elementary wearing a comfortable pair of pink pajamas covered with cats.

Cameron was happy to be extra comfortable, but also to show her support for Haiti. If she and other students donated 50 cents to the Red Cross last Wednesday, they were allowed to wear pajamas to school.

“We’re raising money for Haiti so the people there can have a house and food,” Cameron said.

Pajama day was part of a two-week fundraiser the school conducted for Haiti. On school days from Jan. 27 through Feb. 4 students could pay 50 cents to break the school’s dress code. The fundraiser was the idea of 10-year-old Joey Jackson, who approached school principal Donna Abbott and asked whether the school could do something to support Haiti’s struggling children.

“I saw there were hundreds out on the streets,” Joey said. “And I thought it would be cool to donate money to people who need it more than you do.”

Joey proposed a canned food drive, but administrators and teachers thought it would be easier to donate directly to the Red Cross.

Fourth-grader Shamari Rashawans, who also wore pink pajamas on Wednesday, said she shared Joey’s concern about Haitian kids.

“They need help because they don’t have much stuff anymore and some of them have lost their parents,” she said.

dhaynie@jg.net

Events

•Concordia Lutheran School, 4245 Lake Ave., will be having Kindergarten Round-up at 6:30 p.m. today. Information and registration for full- and half-day classes for the 2010-11 school year will be available. Childcare is provided. For more information call 426-9922 ext. 208.

•Pine Hill Country Day School, 2726 Lynn Ave., will conduct an information open house from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. Registration for fall for all ages, including for the new toddler program, is now being accepted and tours are accepted any time. Call 482-1743.

•The Early College High School Cohort Enrollment meeting, sponsored by Bellmont High School, will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Bellmont Theatre. All incoming freshmen and their parents or guardians are invited to attend. ECHS applications will be distributed. Applications must be returned by Feb. 24.

Recognitions

•Bishop Luers Minstrels was awarded Grand Champion at the Findlay Fest Show Choir Invitational. They were awarded Best in Choreography, Vocal, Tech Crew and Female Vocalist.

•The winners for Warsaw Community High School’s Poetry Out Loud were: Ben Koshnick,  first place; Emily Stouder,  second place; and Chance Parker,  third place.

Scholarships

•The following students received Henry-Keefer Scholarships to Bishop Luers High School: Quinn Cook,  St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; Samuel Stein,  St. Louis Academy; Jack Jones,  St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne; Nathan Grabner,  St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne; Riley Bubb,  Unity Lutheran; Nicholas Miles , St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; Jacob Ganser,  St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne; Megan   Quigley,  St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; Brandon Volmerding , St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne; Nicholas Steffen,  St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne; Charles Scott,  St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; Enzo Possemato,  St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne; and Taylor   Puitz,  St. John the Baptist-Fort Wayne.

Indiana Tech

•An African-American Read-In will be at 1 p.m. Thursday.

IPFW

•Author and professor Jamaica Kincaid will present the Omnibus lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center. No tickets are required for this free lecture. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

•A panel discussion “Good Hair/Bad Hair: What Is the Deal?” will be from noon to 1:15 p.m. Tuesday in Walb Student Union, room G8.

Trine

•The movie “Julie and Julia” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday in Fabiani Theatre in the University Center.