Kruse Education Center Students Rise to “The Challenge”

Ms. Harris’ entire, Kruse Education Center, 5th grade class was presented with top honors for work created for The Student Marketing Challenge (SMC). SMC is a statewide contest sponsored by the Illinois Federation of Teachers for students in grades K-12.

“The goal of SMC is to give kids a unique chance to work in teams as mini-advertising agencies to use their knowledge and creativity to create public awareness campaigns on issues facing today’s students,” explained IFT President Dan Montgomery. “School bullying was chosen as the theme this year because it is a severe and growing problem in many of our communities and schools, at all grade levels.”

The talented group of 5th graders submitted original artwork and slogans including posters and multi-media components. The students’ work was judged by a committee of teachers from throughout Illinois who unanimously decided the entire classes’ work was so good, they all deserved to win.

IFT Vice President and President of AFT Local 604, Dick Manley was on hand to present the students with a certificate of accomplishment and reward their hard work with a pizza party. “As a long time teacher, I’m honored to be here to recognize the work of these creative young students and help them understand the importance their contributions will have in our fight to end school bullying.”

In an effort to curb school bullying, the IFT will create a statewide anti-bullying public awareness campaign featuring components of the work created by Ms. Harris and her students. The campaign is scheduled to launch this fall in advance of national anti-bullying month in October.