PARTY FOR A CAUSE! Katie Bailey, Matt Katzfey, Stephanie Stecz and Mary Burke are all special friends of Leo—Katie and Matt assist us through the Big Shoulders Fund, Stephanie is a grant-writer extraordinaire and Mary is an exceptionally talented graphic artist responsible for our marketing and promotional materials. In late July, they had an idea to put some fun in fundraising, and Leo’s math and science students are the beneficiaries.
Along with an expanded STEM presence, Calculus has been added to the Leo curriculum this year. Special graphing calculators are a requirement for the courses, and they retail at approximately $120 apiece. That’s a burden to our Leo families, so Katie, Matt, Stephanie and Mary decided to relieve them of it by throwing a “Cocktails for Calculators” party and solicit donations from their friends to buy the equipment. Estimated total cost: $7,000. The goal for the event was $3,500, because Big Shoulders agreed to match that amount.
The party was held at Stephanie and Ryan Stecz’s North Side home on July 25. The turnout was phenomenal—about 60 people attended—as were the results: more than $7,000 was raised, and the Big Shoulders match brought the total to more than $10,000. The surplus will go to our Scholarship Fund to assist deserving Leo students.
“What a great night for Leo,” school President Dan McGrath said. “We’re really grateful to Katie and Matt and Stephanie and Mary for allowing us to tell the Leo story to so many new friends.”
Meanwhile, Mrs. Latifi and Ms. Tabernacki are grateful that their students will have state of the art equipment for their classes.