Students and staff at Prospect Hill Academy in Somerville gifted new sneakers from school mentor
SOMERVILLE - There was lots of smiling faces at Prospect Hill Academy's Upper Elementary School Campus in Somerville on Friday, as all students and staff were given brand new Puma sneakers.
More than 250 pairs were handed out one by one as names were called off. This all came about because of the generous heart of school mentor Russell Paulding, who runs Unlimited Lenz. He's been working with the school for many years and recently noticed some of the kids shoes were falling apart and wanted to make a difference.
"Within conversation I started looking down at everyone's shoes and there were some kids who were less fortunate than others. So instead of buying a pair of sneakers for this young adult and putting him or her on the spot, we ended up buying 250 pairs of Pumas to give to every kid in the school," Paulding said.
Principal Tia Lites said the school places a huge emphasis on STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math. In fact, it was a design and engineering project that also sparked the sneaker donation. After the gifts were handed out, a group of students were invited to Puma headquarters in Somerville to learn how sneakers are designed.
Lites wants her students to know hard work pays off. "Knowing that we love them and they need to pay it forward so when they become the future president, doctor, attorney, lawyers, entrepreneurs, they'll remember this experience and do the same thing for someone else that's in need," she said. A simple kind act of kindness from a mentor who saw a need and did something about it.
"Joy. A good feeling, it's a sense of when you look good, you feel good. And when you feel good, you perform better," Paulding said.