Riverview Junior High Murray
THE EVENTClasses: Seventh, eighth and ninth grades
Number of students: 770
Subject: Community service
THE SCHOOL
Location: 751 W. Tripp Lane, Murray
Number of teachers: 35
Principal: Al Church
School district: Murray
THE LESSON
The objective: To have a schoolwide fund-raiser to help Breana Bowles, one of Riverview's handicapped students, who needed a mechanical lift to help her in and out of her family's van. Principal Al Church said that while the percentage of the cost that students were able to raise - about $300 - might have been small, each student contributed. "The key ingredient from our standpoint was a lot of kids gave quarters," he said. Part of the money was raised through admission to a student talent show at which Breana, an accomplished singer, performed. Part of it was from admission to a ninth-grade dance to which students at Hillcrest Junior High were invited. Church said the effort taught valuable lessons in human relations: "All of our kids were touched by this girl's situation and her family's need and contributed whatever they could . . . it plucked at those strings of idealism that all kids have but don't always get a chance to display.
What happens next: The school next year will become the center for all of Murray District's severely handicapped junior-high students, and the effort for Breana serves as a "kind of introduction for handicapped children," said Church. "We're looking forward to the overall program . . . this has created an awareness that handicapped kids can be part of our school."