The outpouring of support following the devastation of Hurricane Maria on St. Croix schools continues with the latest contribution of textbooks and school supplies to junior high schools on the island.
On Tuesday, March 6, Velda Hendricks, district director of agriculture with the V.I. Department of Education (VIDE), with the assistance of PBIS coordinator Yolande Greene, carted several boxes filled with school supplies and textbooks and gave them to Future Farmers of America (FFA) students at Arthur A. Richards, Elena Christian and John H. Woodson junior high schools.
A couple months after the hurricane, Hendricks, a U.S. Virgin Islands FFA Chapter officer, reached out to the students at the Ravenna FFA in Michigan through their advisors to assist their counterparts on St. Croix. The Ravenna FFA students then held fundraisers to purchase school supplies and textbooks for the St. Croix junior high school FFA students. The result was six boxes loaded with school supplies of all kinds from backpacks to pencils. Each school was presented two boxes of supplies in the presence of students, agriculture instructors and school administrators.
Principal Carlos McGregor of the Elena Christian Jr. H.S. was appreciative of the tremendous donation from the Ravenna FFA students. In thanking the Ravenna students and thanking Mrs. Hendricks for arranging the donation, he said, during a presentation at Stanley Farrelly’s agriculture class, “Our students will definitely benefit from these and especially from the books that came in as well. So, we look forward to seeing our students put these to use to help create a better agricultural program at Elena Christian.”
