Return to 2025 SoEs

Eli Whitney Elementary School

Stratford, Connecticut

Principal: Robert Veteri
Advisors: Lea DiStefano, Jessica Scandurra
Student Council Officers: 18

Projects

“Miracle Minute Event”

Miracle Minute was a community service event organized by our Student Council to raise money for the Tommy Fund, which supports childhood cancer research. After researching the fund’s mission, the council collaboratively decided to create an event centered around fundraising and engagement. The “Miracle Minute” idea involved hosting an assembly where students learned about the Tommy Fund, followed by a one-minute envelope collection drive to raise as much money as possible. While the money was being counted, the Student Council kept the energy high by organizing fun “Minute to Win It” games for both students and staff. The Student Council took charge of every aspect of the event, from planning and outlining the assembly, selecting the games, and organizing the necessary supplies, to creating a script and playlist. They also served as the hosts, money counters, and handled the setup and cleanup for the games, ensuring the event ran smoothly from start to finish. Together, they raised over $1,100.

“Inclusive Winter Theme Week”

The Student Council wanted to bring some fun-spirited happenings in the building to increase school spirit and inclusivity. Although the winter holidays were approaching, they wanted to create something that the entire school population could take part in, so everyone felt included. They came up with a winter theme week and created an outline of fun dress up days that were not holiday specific. Winter Penguin Day- wear black and white; Favorite Winter Character Day- dress up as Frosty, Elsa, or Rudolph (to name a few); Wacky Winter Hair/Head gear- wear crazy hair, a hat or headband; Bright Lights- each grade was assigned a color to wear; Ugly Sweater Day- wear your favorite ugly sweater.