‘These students made me so proud’

LEOMINSTER — A group of elementary school students launched a fundraiser that has been so successful, they sold out of product the very first day.

Fall Brook Elementary School fourth graders Maddie Denning, Jonathan Spencer, and Georgia Gravelle, all 10, and Eli Terk, nine, have raised over $1,500 for the Lorna Moody Scholarship Fund through their 3D printed ducks effort. They have sold hundreds of different kinds of duck — glow in the dark, St. Patrick’s Day themed, red for the school color, and custom designs — all in honor of their late physical education teacher Lorna Moody, who was at Fall Brook for nearly three decades before she passed away last winter following a difficult battle with cancer.

“Ducks were Moody’s favorite and has quickly become our unofficial mascot,” said Fall Brook Assistant Principal Lynn Fiandaca, who noted how much everyone adored the physical education teacher.

“The project was completely student created and has been a great success,” she said, calling the fourth-grade students “industrious.”

Fall Brook STEM teacher Marie Keane shared that when the quartet of young students approached her about creating and selling 3D ducks to raise money for their school in some capacity, she was impressed with their initiative.

“I facilitated the project, but it was really a student led activity with just some supervision on my part,” Keane said. “These students made me so proud with the way they collaborated, met challenges, and were innovative in their thinking. Because of their entrepreneurship and enthusiasm, they were able to raise more money than anyone expected.”

She has been at Fall Brook in various capacities since 2002, first as a paraprofessional, then a teacher, and took on the role of STEM teacher three years ago when the position was created. Keane leads the students in all kinds of hands-on STEM related curriculum and projects including robotics, design, engineering, and more. One of the terms focuses on 3D printing, which the students knew was coming up.

When the four students approached her with their fundraiser idea, she told them they would need to get permission from Fiandaca and Fall Brook Principal Jeffrey Sullivan, so the students created a detailed slideshow to present to the administrators. Keane talked about giving the students ownership of the project and that just two days after asking them to create a presentation, they came back to her with one.

They then emailed Fiandaca and Sullivan to set up a meeting, and after getting the green light from them after answering all their questions, the students were off and running. They hoped to raise $50 for the scholarship fund and held a duck design contest to generate interest.

“Their goal was to involve as many students as possible,” Keane said.

The ducks have been so popular that they sold out of the initial 250 count batch and at least 400 more have been printed and sold since then. Keane said she has been printing ducks 24/7 since the fundraiser launched mid-March, even overnight, and that several fellow STEM teachers and others around the district stepped in to support them.

“I was very lucky to have lots of other staff in the district help out,” Keane said of the collaborative effort, adding school custodian Ray Libby has also been a big help, particularly with printing the ducks on the weekends. “Over 35 3D printers in the district were running.”

The fourth graders met in Fiandaca’s office this past Thursday to talk about their project. Keane said Eli and Maddie were the ones who initially thought of it and then asked their two friends, Georgia and Jonathan, to be part of it.

“We said do you want to help, and they said yes, conversation over,” Eli said with a smile on his face, with Maddie adding that she has enjoyed creating 3D hashtag block ducks.

When asked what they enjoyed about being part of the successful project, Jonathan said, “selling them, we did a great job” and Georgia talked about the lines and lines of kids and even staff in the lobby that first day they sold out, people who were excited to buy a duck or three.

When Fiandaca asked if anyone panicked when they sold out, they all laughed and raised their hands, but Keane shared that they kept going and were able to meet the demand. The longtime teacher said Maddie designed the fundraiser poster and that she and Eli put it up on a screen and traced it onto a large piece of paper.

Although the students couldn’t work with the 3D printers themselves due to safety, Keane disclosed that they helped a lot with other aspects, including removing the ducks from the plastic pieces that hold them together, cleaning them, and sorting them into buckets by design.

Fiandaca mentioned that there are other Fall Brook teachers also raising money for the Lorna Moody Scholarship Fund. In addition, they held a Patriots tickets raffle and did Moody Movement Mondays in March, where students could pay a nominal fee to participate in after school gym class.

The scholarship deadline is April 11 and Fiandaca said graduating seniors can access scholarships via the 2025 Scholarship Google Classroom, exclusively for Leominster Public School seniors. Two seniors who have prioritized health throughout their school years will each be awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the fund during senior awards night in May.

Keane said that while they have pretty much wrapped up sales and just need to print the last of the ducks that have been ordered, if someone didn’t get one who wants one, they would be happy to oblige. Fiandaca shared that she bought one of each, including a custom design purple gym teacher duck complete with a whistle as an ode to Moody, and plans to line them up on her desk once she gets them.

“The idea that the kids want to fundraise for a scholarship fund to keep Moody’s legacy and love of ducks alive and show their gratitude for her is amazing,” Fiandaca said of the beloved physical education teacher who had to leave halfway through the fourth graders’ second grade year due to getting sick.

She went on to say that the school community strives to live by Moody’s motto — ‘Be mighty, be strong, be healthy’ — and that this giving back project spearheaded by the four students perfectly aligns with that.

“They have shown so much leadership,” Keane said of the students. “They have just totally surprised me, in a good way. The four of them have really just owned this project and worked through some challenges with it and to see them be able to implement it and grow and to accept those challenges and make adjustments while being positive about those changes has just been wonderful to see. I couldn’t be prouder of the four of them for taking this on.”