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Date: 11/20/2019
AGAWAM – When Kerry LaFromboise dropped her sons, Kade, 7, and Atlas, 9, off at a Science Fun Night, she didn’t realize it would be a lesson in giving.
At the Granger Elementary School conference night, STEAM teacher Tammy Rumplik spends her time entertaining and engaging with kids around engineering and science while parents speak with their children’s classroom teachers.
With the help of students from the high school, Rumplik guides kids through experiments and engineering exercises in which they build structures. Not only does it give the kids something to do, but the $5 per student participation fee goes into the science fund, which pays for small awards that are given to students who participate in the school science fair.
Kerry said her sons were having so much fun they didn’t want to leave.
“I built a marble track,” and played games with friends, Kade said of his time at the Science Fun Night. Kerry said Kade talked about how much fun he had had throughout the drive home.
Then the second-grader surprised his mother.
“When Kade came home, he said wanted to give Mrs. Rumplik more money toward the science fund,” Kerry said. He had overheard Rumplik and his mother discussing the need to raise funds.
Kade had recently come into a fair amount of money – $5 – that he had earned raking leave
“He earned that money all by himself. Five dollars is a lot for a 7-year-old,” Kerry said.
Kade explained, “She didn’t have a lot of money for the science fund and I wanted to help.”
Rumplik shared that the science fair is an optional academic activity and, rather than being competitive, it is meant to teach kids how to research and present projects. She said she likes to give the 40 to 60 students who participate in the fair each year a small award since it is extra work that the students voluntarily take on. The science fund allows her to do that.
Rumplik said she was impressed that Kade was willing to donate his money, but it didn’t end there.
Kade’s selfless act of charity inspired Kerry and her husband, who owns Autopoint Motors in Feeding Hills, to donate $100 to the science fund in the business’s name.