Medford, NJ – Shawnee High School’s Kids for Wish Kids Club hosted their fourth annual Magic Show on Thursday, February 18.
The show had well over 100 virtual attendees and raised $4,800 for the New Jersey chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Former Shawnee student Jake Strong volunteered his time to provide a fantastic virtual performance.
Club’s Long-Time Advisor Set To Retire
The show was also bittersweet as the club’s long-time advisor, Mrs. Diane Kelly, is retiring at the end of this year.
The club surprised Mrs. Kelly with a magic trick of their own, having dozens of letters from former students appear in her doorway at home in a special surprise.
The club thanked Mrs. Kelly for her years of volunteer work in running the club and her efforts to help the club raise tens of thousands of dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Mrs. Kelly shared: “Having been the Kids-for-Wish Kids advisor as well as the coordinator for the Give Kids the World Village volunteer trip since 2010 has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. To cap off all that time, Jake Strong played a trick at his final Shawnee Magic Show that I will never forget. He enlisted former club members and trip participants to write letters to me to tell about what their time in the club and at the Village meant to them.”
So many former and current students wrote about how “life changing” their time volunteering has been to them. Mrs. Kelly said. “These letters affirmed all the hours and effort that were put into the planning, fundraising, and meetings over all these years really had a positive and long-lasting impact on the students. What more can a teacher ask of her time spent working with teens?”
Mrs. Kelly truly felt that all the students who traveled with her to volunteer and who worked to raise money to grant wishes for kids facing critical illnesses through Make-A-Wish NJ, became her “kids.”
“What a way to take a final bow as I resign from a career that defined who I am as a person,” Mrs. Kelly said. “It will now be a challenge to answer the question, ‘What do you do?’ Thank you to all in the Shawnee Community that supported all the efforts of the Kids for Wish Kids Club for so long!”
About LRHSD
The Lenape Regional High School District’s four high schools – Lenape, Shawnee, Cherokee and Seneca – as well as the Sequoia Alternative Program, educate approximately 6,800 students from eight communities in Burlington County.
The communities served include Evesham, Medford, Medford Lakes, Mount Laurel, Shamong, Southampton, Tabernacle, and Woodland.
The Lenape Regional District is among the highest-achieving districts in the state, with an average graduation rate of 96% and an average combined SAT score of 1144.
A leader in progressive education, the LRHSD’s mission is to develop physically and emotionally healthy students who excel in an ever-changing world.
