Cents in Action: Kurt Schwartz

Welcome to our ninth 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 Mohamad Maarouf of KIPP Houston High School in Houston, Texas. You can check it out here if you missed it.

Meet Kurt Schwartz of High Tech High North County in San Marcos, California. You may remember reading about Carol Cabrera, and she and Kurt are team teachers! Kurt teaches 9th grade physics and sponsors a solar engineering club. With PledgeCents, he raised $2,025 to help his solar engineering club build a boat for the Solar Cup competition!

Here is just some of what he had to say about his experience with PledgeCents:

How long have you been a teacher, and what is your favorite teaching moment from your career so far?

I have been teaching for 5 years, and my favorite teaching moment is our first Solar Cup project when our drive shaft suddenly froze. Other teachers told us we were done for the race, but the kids did not want to give up. They took it back to the paddock, took the drive shaft apart, rebuilt it, and finished the race. I was so proud of them. We all have lots of great teaching moments, but seeing them work hard on their own and finish the race was definitely one of my best.

How much of your own money do you think you have put toward your classroom and students in any given year, and what have you spent it on?

I would say last year I was out $900 just for Solar Cup and an additional $400 for my classroom. The money is for anything and everything. Paper, pencils, pens, etc. Whatever the kids need you have to spot them. It can be lunch money or other little things like that.

With so many fundraising options out there, why did you choose to work with the PledgeCents team?

I chose PledgeCents because of my team teacher Carol. She had a friend who works there, and I was impressed with how well they worked with us. I needed help writing the description of my cause, and the PledgeCents team worked with me directly in that area.

How did your students react when they received the resources PledgeCents helped you acquire?

They were excited because we did that boat last year on no money, so when I told them this year that we had the money and we would be ok, they were really relieved because that was an additional layer of stress. They didn’t want to be a burden, so they were comforted to know that it wouldn’t be a problem this year.

What would be your advice to another teacher who is considering using PledgeCents?

Make sure it is worth it. Don’t post trivial things. You are asking people to give you money, and if there is not a worthwhile cause behind it, your project might fail. Save your energy for something really useful. We all need money in the classroom and we all know it, but what you raise money for needs have a real benefit for the kids. It should really heighten their education and deepen their learning.

And our very favorite question…If you were one school supply what would you be and why?

I would be a scratchpad because that is where all your great thinking comes from--not the formal stuff but the stuff you do off the side. I always tell kids to have a scratchpad next to them when they do math even if it is just for doodling.

Thanks so much to Kurt for sharing his experiences with us, and we wish him the best of luck for this school year! We look forward to seeing his next cause on the site!