Collaborating in an effort to raise funds for a great cause, students in the Islip Middle School National Junior Honor Society and the sixth-grade math classes participated in the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s annual Math-A-Thon. According to its website, “for more than 30 years, St. Jude Math-A-Thon has been America’s largest education-based fundraiser. It includes a free math curriculum supplement for grades K-8, which students complete after obtaining sponsorships from friends and family.”

“I have a personal connection to cancer and wanted to find a way to pay it forward and thought this was a great opportunity,” said sixth-grade teacher Dianne Ungaro, who organized the event along with Laura Greco and Jessica Kirsh. In their first year of participation, the sixth-graders and NJHS raised $1,325 for St. Jude’s.