St. Regis students raise funds for trip

ST. REGIS – One teacher and the principal at the St. Regis High School were walking the halls and teaching classes last Friday wearing somewhat non-traditional attire in order to honor a wager they made with the student body.

Principal Joe Steele, along with special education teacher Cody Beierle, honored their commitment to students that if they raised enough money for a fundraiser, they would wear dresses for a day. The kids hit their mark so last Friday, Beierle taught classes and Steele roamed the halls wearing ladies’ attire.

The stunt was all for a good cause as the fundraiser was to send the special education class to the Silverwood Amusement Park in Idaho to celebrate a drastic improvement in their grades. Steele said he was very impressed with the progress the students had made over the course of the year.

“Our special ed department held a fundraiser to take their kids to Silverwood in celebration of how hard they have worked,” Steele said. “They worked really hard over the course of the year to bring their grades up. Some of our kids made great gains in their achievements so we wanted to do something special and this is what they came up.”

Steele said, as an incentive for the student body to raise money for the special education students, there were three watermarks for them to hit. The first one was $100. After students raised that amount, Beierle was obligated to shave his legs presumably for the first time.

After the $250 amount was raised by the ambitious students of St. Regis, Steele had his head shaved into a Mohawk and his hair dyed green. As amusing as the sight was for students, teachers, secretaries and other staff, the students weren’t done with Steele and Beierle.

The students of St. Regis went above and beyond for their fellow classmates and hit the $500 goal. And with that, Steele and Beierle were obligated to honor their commitment and wear dresses for a day. Steele said he and Beierle were the only ones in the school willing to ante up and meet the demands of the students who worked so hard for the special education department.

“There was supposed to be a beauty pageant but then everyone backed out,” Steele said jokingly. “The two of us honored our contract with the kids. And that’s why I’m dressed in this lovely attire. The money was raised mostly through donations. I guess some people in the community wanted to see me with a shaved head.”

Steele said one of the largest donations came from the family of one of the students who has made particularly positive gains in performance during the school year.