Lesson in caring hits close for kids

Sometimes instilling character cannot be taught, it needs to be experienced.

Each year staff members at Oakhill Elementary School in Streamwood teach students the tenets of being a good person through the Character Counts program. Learning what it means to care for and about someone hit home recently when students raised money to help an Oakhill alumna battle cancer.

Sixth-grade teacher Mike Sikora spearheaded the effort to raise money for Darleen Felton, a former student who is suffering from Ewing's sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Felton was in one of the initial classes Sikora taught at Oakhill, a group of kids that the 33-year-old teacher said is "one of the best I've ever had."

"Dollars for Darlene" came about after Felton made an impromptu visit to Oakhill to say hello to staff. Sikora missed seeing her that day, but school secretary Rose Kettinger handed him a flier advertising a 5K walk/run in November that would raise money to help offset Felton's medical expenses.

"That's when I knew I had to do something," said Sikora, who had had contact with Felton when helping out as a coach at Streamwood High School. "It was the right thing to do."

With the help of his current sixth-grade class, whom Sikora calls "very sensitive," and the support of Oakhill principal Patricia Barrett, a school-wide fundraising goal of $1,000 was set.

"My students made posters to display in the halls and a chart to keep track of our progress," Sikora said. "I wrote a letter distributed to Oakhill families explaining the situation and the fact that if each student brought in $2 we would be able to clear our goal."

The school ended up raising $1,225 in two weeks.

Sikora e-mailed current and several former Oakhill staffers who knew Darleen, asking them for donations of a more personal gift.

"I knew the money from the Oakhill students would go toward her bills, so I wanted a second gift just for her," he said.

Felton has yet to collect on this gift, citing the fact it's difficult to plan a night or weekend out because of how she's feeling due to her chemotherapy treatments.

Dollars for Darleen ended up dovetailing perfectly with Oakhill's Character Counts program, which highlights five pillars of character education. Caring was the pillar highlighted for November and December. Although students as a whole have raised money for causes such as victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asian tsunami, doing something for Felton brought the idea out of the abstract and into reality.

"On the day that Darleen came to the school to accept the check, she spoke to the school over the intercom," Barrett said. "The children were so excited to hear from her and so happy to hear how grateful she was. This experience showed how caring can make a difference in another person's life."

Sikora echoed that.

"I talked with my kids (class) and they admitted they really didn't care much before about the people they were raising money for," Sikora said. "But when she came into our class, their eyes were really glued to her."

In return for their efforts, Oakhill students were treated to an afternoon of popcorn and a movie in lieu of class.