Cents in Action: Kalli Harrell
Welcome to our seventh Cents in Action blog post. Every Sunday, we will be featuring an educator who has used our site to raise money for a school or classroom need. Last week, we featured Dewitt Robsinson of Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check it out here if you missed it.
Meet Kalli Harrell of The Soulsville Charter School in Memphis, Tennessee. Kalli has created three causes and raised $1,415 on PledgeCents. The funds Kalli has raised have gone to purchase science supplies, books of each student's choice, and she most recently raised funds for owl pellets for disection. Kalli's owl pellet cause has already met its goal but still has almost a month to go! Please visit her page and contribute if you are able!
How long have you been a teacher, and what is your favorite teaching moment from your career so far?
This is my fifth year teaching at The Soulsville Charter School. I love teaching 6th grade science so much! It’s hard to choose a favorite moment, but I’d probably have to say dissecting frogs at the end of the school year and watching my kids design science fair projects tie for first in my mind! Watching their imaginations and science skills come alive is the best!
With so many fundraising options out there, why did you choose to work with the PledgeCents team?
I went to college with Andy (PledgeCents Co-Founder) so I wanted to support his work! It didn’t take long, though, to see how much easier this platform is for fundraising for my classroom. I want to do great things for my kids, but I don’t have a lot of time to devote to managing websites and vendors. With Pledgecents I get the best of everything - I can support a good friend, support my kids, and save time for what’s most important - planning for my kids!
How did your students react when they received the resources PledgeCents helped you acquire?
They love it! What kids doesn’t love new things, even if it is for school?! I’ve also found that because the resources were purchased with funds specially raised for them my students tend to take greater care and have more respect for the resources. We love practicing gratitude so days when needed and/or wanted resources show up is not only exciting but also a great time to practice saying ‘thank you’.
If money weren’t an issue, what would be the top 3 things you would provide for your students?
A Chromebook cart, robotics materials, and a huge trip somewhere awesome and full of science experiences (maybe somewhere near the ocean so we could see marine ecosystems up close!)
What did you personally do to market your cause? What worked? What did not work?
Facebook shout outs and personal emails have worked well for me. I’m lucky to have a lot of support from friends and family, and now thanks to them, their friends and family are supporting my causes! My colleagues at work also rally around each other and support financially as well. We all know that every cent counts!
What are you planning on doing differently for your next cause?
I’m planning to go big for my next cause! I want to start a robotics club at school, but we need all the necessary equipment to get started. I know this will take a lot of spreading the word, so I’m hoping to utilize our school newsletter, students, and parents to get the word out about this awesome opportunity and project.
And our very favorite question...If you were one school supply what would you be and why?
A timer. It may sound boring, but I live and die by timing my classroom. We have so much to do and every second counts. Kids know that without my coffee and timer we’re all going to be lost. Kids love being in charge of my timers, too, because I tend to lose and/or break them. It’s pretty impressive.
Thanks so much to Kalli for sharing his experiences with us, and we wish her the best of luck for this school year! We look forward to seeing her next cause on the site!
