Students and staff at Neenah’s Shattuck and Horace Mann Middle Schools have been working together to help a local girl with a craniofacial anomaly.
The two schools have already raised over $1,000 through selling t-shirts and bracelets to help three-year old Brynn Rosplochowski, who has undergone four skull and eye surgeries since she was six months old. A craniofacial anomaly is a diverse group of deformities in the growth of the head and facial bones.
The idea came from reading the book, “Wonder,” by author R.J. Palacio, who was scheduled to attend Shattuck this week as part of the Fox Cities Book Festival but was forced to cancel her visit due to a family emergency. Palacio’s book tells the story of August Pullman, a young boy with a craniofacial anomaly that prevents him from attending mainstream school until the fifth grade. Over 80 percent of Neenah’s middle school students have read the book this year.
Brynn lives in Oshkosh and her mom, Amy, is a Shattuck Middle School and Neenah High School graduate. Her grandmother, Diane Mankiewicz, is a library aide at Shattuck. Brynn is traveling to Dallas later this month to see specialists and the fundraising activities at both schools will help offset the family’s expenses.
“I really appreciate the money, but what I find especially moving is the awareness and compassion that students are showing with their generosity and kindess,” Amy Rosplochowski said.
The Educational Foundation of Neenah and Target stores donated several copies of the book to the Shattuck and Horace Mann libraries to help with the project. |