The cast of the play, “The Glass Slipper,” which was written and performed by Mr. Swenson’s Grade 3 class.
The curtains rise and the stage fills with Grade 3 students. Twirling in black tuxedos and pink dresses, the forty students ballroom dance to a slow waltz.
No, this is not a scene from a recently-released movie on ballroom-dancing elementary students. It is a performance of the students’ very own play, “The Glass Slipper,” a spin off of the Cinderella story.
Through their production, the Grade 3 students in Mr. Thomas Swenson and Jennifer Lippmann’s classes at Stewartsville Elementary School in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, did something phenomenal: they raised enough money to build a school for children in rural China.
Building a school in rural China had been a goal for these students from the very beginning. Working with heart and determination, they set their sights on their goal and never gave up. They knew that their support was essential for children in an area where most families live on less than $1 per day.
The students promoted their play through local media, invited the community and even learned how to ballroom dance for one of the scenes. On opening night, more than 400 people packed the theatre and the students achieved their fundraising goal of $4,500 to build a new school in rural China.
Mr. Swenson is proud of his young playwrights. “The students loved the idea that because of their hard work they were able to make life better for someone on the other side of the world,” he says. “They wrapped their hearts and souls around this project and gave it their all. I have never seen such mature and caring students in my career, and I have never been more proud of a group of students.”
