Chartiers Valley students surprise teacher with donation in her honor
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For three months, 150 students in kindergarten through second grade arrived at Chartiers Valley Primary School early each Wednesday.
Led by second-grade teacher Shelley Territ, they performed daily exercises as participants in Kids of Steel, a training program that motivates youngsters and their families to get moving and make healthier food choices. The program is conducted by P3R, which organizes the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon and Chick-fil-A Kids Marathon.
On May 3, three days before many of the Chartiers Valley students planned to participate in the latter, Territ received a pleasant surprise: a $1,070 donation in her name to the GBS CIDP Foundation International, a global organization supporting individuals and their families affected by Guillain-Barré syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and related conditions.
Primary school parents raised the money as a thank you for her dedication to their children’s health and well-being.
In 2017, Territ was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks its nerves. After hundreds of hours of physical therapy and monthly Intravenous immune globulin treatments, she is doing well.
“Shelley has been a committed Kids of Steel coordinator for many years and has changed the lives and attitudes of so many young people through her energy and positivity,” Amy Scheuneman, P3R director of youth programming, said. “It is wonderful to see the youth giving back and supporting her.”
In addition to their usual routine on May 3, the primary students joined teachers and administrators in a Colt Country celebration, donning the likes of festive hats and Wild West-type mustaches. Principal Deidra Stepko and assistant principal Nativa Tamasy entertained everyone by wearing inflatable colt costumes for the occasion.