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By JOSEPH GIDJUNIS
Courier-Post Staff
The nonprofit arm of the Camden school district is looking for participants and sponsors for the fourth annual golf tournament fundraiser, which provides scholarships for college-bound seniors.
The Camden Board of Education Foundation has expanded its financial goal to $62,500, an increase of $12,500 and five students, over last year’s goals. The increase allows the foundation to compensate for an additional five scholarships for students from Camden’s fifth high school, MetEast, which is graduating its first class of seniors on June 26.
The remaining scholarships are divided evenly over the other four high schools.
“We want to give these kids a financial hand up to go to college,” said Jack Tarditi, president of the foundation. “It’s integral in helping these 25 kids pay for their first year of college.”
Registration for the golf tournament fundraiser begins at 11 a.m. June 24 at the Pennsauken Country Club, on Haddonfield Road.
In addition to college scholarships, the money raised will benefit other cultural activities the school district can’t pay for on its own, said School District spokesman Bart Leff. In the past year, the foundation provided significant funding for the Camden High School Marching Band to compete in Inauguration weekend festivities.
The foundation has also helped refurbish high school football stadium field houses, travel expenses for special groups to see a Guatemalan rain forest, and a trip for a choral competition in Verona, Italy, Leff said.
The golf tournament is expecting former Philadelphia sports icons Bernie Parent, of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Jon Runyan and Irving Fryar, of the Philadelphia Eagles, as honorary chairmen. The Philadelphia Phanatic should also make an appearance, Leff said. There is also a silent auction and award banquet for the students and families.
Sponsorship begins at $250 for an individual, or $2,000 for a team of four. Top level sponsorship extends to $10,000 or $20,000. The overall fundraising goal is $80,000, Leff said.
“We would like to raise as much as possible,” Leff said. “Our game plan is to create an endowment for these activities.”
Tarditi said that he recognizes the hit on families and corporations, but added that he expects that Camden’s loyal community won’t let the children down.
Reach Joseph Gidjunis at (856) 486-2604 or jgidjunis@gannett.com
Additional Facts IF YOU GO
The Camden Board of Education Foundation’s fourth annual golf tournament fundraiser to provide scholarships for college-bound seniors will be at 11 a.m. June 24. The tournament will be at the Pennsauken Country Club on Haddonfield Road. For more information, call Bart Leff at (856) 966-2649 or Jack Tarditi (856) 552-4792.
Last week, 17-year-old Camden High School student Zakia Boone laid out a vision for her soon-to-be alma mater in front of the New Jersey Senate Subcommittee on School Facilities and Construction.
The Courier-Post reports:
“Boone, a senior at the school, said she wanted the 90-year-old Castle on the Hill — a nickname for Camden High School — to remain standing and possibly be used for administration.
Then she looked up at the subcommittee chairwoman, state Sen. Dana Redd, D-Camden, as if she were Santa Claus and proceeded with her wish list for a new Camden High School.
For academics, the new high school should have dedicated wings concentrating in English, math and science. Facilities should include a bigger gymnasium and locker room, swimming pool, school store, cafeteria with food court, better libraries and computer centers. An indoor and outdoor track wouldn’t be out of question either, Boone said.
“I know some of you may say this seems a bit too much, but this is not even half of what I want to see,” Boone said with a smile. “I am only asking this because this will affect my children.”
Boone’s comments came during a nearly four-hour public hearing about how to allocate the $3.9 billion the state approved for new school construction. Most of it, $2.9 billion, is intended for the former Abbott districts. The remaining $1 billion will be granted to non-Abbott districts and county vocational schools whose projects are eligible for partial funding.
Camden’s share of funds from the state’s School Development Authority is roughly $200 million — $110 million for Camden High School, $42 million for Pyne Poynt Middle School and $45 million for Lanning Square Elementary School, according to the latest planning estimates from the SDA. Gloucester City is also slated for a new middle school for $66 million.
While construction on Pyne Poynt and Camden High School is tentatively scheduled in the next 12 to 18 months, Lanning Square Elementary wouldn’t begin until 2011. But this is much too late for the parents and children of the Lanning Square community, said Katrina McCombs, the principal at Lanning Square at Fetters.
“I want to express the urgency that the new Lanning Square needs to be constructed. This is not a want. It needs to be constructed,” McCombs said referring to the staff and families who were displaced after the original Lanning Square was abandoned after structural defects were found.
If the subcommittee wouldn’t move quickly for her, then do it for Kaytrena Wilson, McCombs said. Wilson is a sixth-grade honor student with perfect attendance.
“She needs to be in a facility to help her go as far as she can. Please remember Lanning Square,” she said.
Redd, who ran the hearing with Sen. Ronald L. Rice, D-Newark, characterized the meeting as positive because it outlined important points for school districts in need.
“Many of our facilities are inadequate. We have buildings that are 100 years old. They’re inadequate for this school environment,” Redd said after the meeting in Camden High.
Camden School Board President Sara Davis said her students often receive a poor reputation, but she defended them as brilliant with natural gifts and talents. She wants new school facilities to allow them to unlock their potential.
“We do produce some outstanding students,” Davis said. “If we had better facilities, just imagine the students we would be able to produce and send out in the world.”
Borrowing this $3.9 billion has been controversial because New Jersey residents did not have the opportunity to vote on the funding despite Corzine’s campaign statements that all borrowing should be approved by voters first. He made an exception for the school funding because, he said, it was ordered by the courts. The bonds will be backed by state income tax collections, Corzine said.
More public hearings are scheduled around the state in the coming weeks.”
