“Businessman donates expertise, money, gifts to Cole students” |
| Businessman donates expertise, money, gifts to Cole students Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:08 AM PST  Kindergartners at Cole Arts and Science Academy reach out for gifts they received Wednesday as a reward for hard work. The toys were financed by businessman Tom Gamel, whose donations to the school attended by his mother reflect his conviction that businesses must get involved in education. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)  Tom Gamel, who owns Timpte Trailers, has promised to donate $500,000 each year to Cole. He also has brought Christmas to the students at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School and donated scholarship money for students there. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post) On Wednesday, 690 students at Cole Arts and Science Academy were surprised with a visit from Santa Claus, who arrived bearing gifts from a Denver businessman. The halls at the school filled with claps, cheers and little ones yelling "yay" at the sight of the gifts. As students and staff at the K-8 Denver Public Schools campus worked to improve school performance, Tom Gamel, owner of Timpte Trailers, was noticing and is using the holidays to reward improvements. Gamel donated money to purchase gifts, which included portable DVD players for eighth-graders. "It's hard to talk," Gamel said as he watched kindergartners open gifts — Build-a-Bear box sets for girls and remote-control trucks for boys. "They're all such pretty faces."Gamel has promised to donate $500,000 each year — including the gifts — to Cole, the school his mother attended. "The only way to fix the education system is if business gets involved," Gamel said. "Not only with money but with time, intelligence, philosophy and guidance." Julie Murgel, principal at Cole, sees Gamel as a mentor. "We talk a lot about what it means to manage people, for instance," Murgel said. "But for the kids, it allows us to have more technology to offer them and more after-school tutoring." This year, Gamel is also bringing Christmas to the 244 students at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School, a K-8 school where his late sister was a principal. He's provided $50,000 in scholarships in each of the past three years. Students at both schools are largely minority and low-income. About 95 percent of Cole students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch. About 94 percent of St. Rose students qualify for meal aid. Jeannie Courchene, St. Rose director of development, said the school tracks each student through high school, and data show 98 percent of the students graduate on time. "You have to have a school, and a situation with leadership, that wants you there," said Gamel, who acknowledges not every school is ready for private help. "Not every school is set up to do this, but more and more will be." According to district school-performance-framework data, Cole is ranked as "accredited on watch." In the past year however, the school managed to make improvements in two categories used to measure academic performance. Those improvements are expressed in status points. This year the school earned 21 percent of its status points, which is still below the 50 percent considered a passing grade, but is better than the 8 percent grade the school earned last year. "The real idea is to make this an example to get other people involved who have been fortunate and have the ability to provide the help," Gamel said. "It's a terrible problem, but I know it can be solved." Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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