Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Top fundraising students presented a check to St. Jude in the amount of $47,748 on Friday, March 31, during a field trip they were awarded to the children’s research hospital in Memphis.
 
The Poplar Bluff School District has raised a total of $967,924 for the hospital since the campus community first began participating in Math-A-Thon in 1989. If the students reach their all-time goal next school year, R-I will be the first school system ever to donate more than $1 million, according to district coordinator Jenifer Richardson, Oak Grove principal.

During the visit, students—grades K through 8—learned about the work that St. Jude is doing to some day cure cancer by watching informational videos and participating in a historical scavenger hunt, while building chaperones and parents had a chance to tour the world-class facility.

Past O’Neal Principal Lorenzo Sandlin initially took up the cause as a service project for the elementary school nearly three decades ago. Within several years, the initiative went district-wide, and has continued to gain support from the business community.

Pictured are students (in alphabetical order) are Madeline Allbritton, Truston Alexander, Brandt Bell, McKinzie Buenaga, Alyssa Cochran, Daine Dugas, Preston Ethridge, Rowan Gowen, Anna Lack, Naila Moreno, Kyleigh Moffitt, Eliana Persons, Colton Pigg, Charlie Raglin, Brooks Ray, Andon Ridenour, Dalton Rommel, Clayton Schalk, Bailey Smith, Lamonten Thomas, Clarissa Varner and Keaton Willcut; and building coordinators include Staci Barker, Angie Bowman, Sheila Boyles, Jennifer Nicolini, Jenifer Richardson, Ashley Robertson, Melanie Schalk and Jannette Walk.

Photo and article submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District