Driver Middle School (DMS) Sixth Grade Classes Honored With “The Golden Kazoo Award”

The Aitchison Auditorium at Driver Middle School was alive with excitement on January 19, 2011 as sixth grade teachers and students came together to receive a very special and unique award. Rene DeVesty and Clere Glatz from Camp Good Days and Special Times were on hand to present the DMS sixth grade classes with the “Golden Kazoo Award”. Camp Good Days and Special Times is a not-for-profit organization “dedicated to improving the quality of life for children, adults and families whose lives have been touched by cancer and other life challenges”. Camp Good Days provides residential camping programs at its beautiful recreation facility located on Kueka Lake in Brockport, New York as well as year round recreational activities and support to families. All of the Camp Good Days programs are offered free of charge for participants, which is made possible through the generosity of individual and group donors to the organization’s fundraising efforts. As DeVesty and Glatz explained to the sixth grade audience “they are only free because of you.” Devesty explained that the biggest fundraising initiative for Camp Good Days and Special Times is the annual Kazoo Fest at the Carousel Mall. This year’s fest raised more than $14,000, which “is enough money to send thirty (30) families in need to the camping facility on Kueka Lake”. Each year the Camp Good Days organization awards the “Golden Kazoo Award” to an organization whose fundraising efforts clearly demonstrate the Camp Good Days mission, “while nothing we can do at Camp Good Days will find a cure for cancer or other life threatening challenges, everything we do will help to provide some good days and special times for the very special children and families we serve.” The sixth grade classes at Driver Middle School were exceptionally happy to be honored with the 2010 Golden Kazoo Award. DMS sixth grade students under the guidance of teachers Anita Pawlewicz, Susan Tavolacci, Jeni Comstock, George Mango, Craig Johnson, Nancy van der Ven, Tammy Farrell, Maureen Manke and Anne Dorio raised more than $250 over the holiday season. Fundraising initiatives for the Camp Good Days cause included participation in the Kazoo Fest at Carousel Mall, participation in a sixth grade kazoo fest at Driver Middle School, and participation in a cross country ski event at Orenda Springs. The Camp Good Days representatives cited the “spirit and energy” of the DMS sixth grade participants as being a major factor in their selection as the 2010 Golden Kazoo Award winners. The Golden Kazoo Award plaque will be on display. Sixth grade teacher Anita Pawlewicz said it best as she introduced DeVesty and Glatz, “It is hard for me to think about us receiving an award for doing something that we learned so much from.”