The North Haven Middle School (NHMS) PTA earned $170 this fall thanks to people taking a moment to clip the Box Tops for Education found on participating grocery and household products. While students can always bring in box tops, Michele O’Connell, who is now the vice president of the NHMS PTA, wanted to get the community at large involved.

“I set up a collection box at the library to see if we could get more resources and have the town support the students in our area,” says Michele. “It has been very successful.”

The box tops collected at the library are split between the middle school and the three elementary schools. The collection box has proven to be such a success that there was a request to also add a box at the North Haven Senior Center this year. For every box top the PTA submits, it earns 10 cents.

Michele has two sons—Evan, a 9th-grader, and Matthew, who is in the 7th grade—and she became involved in the PTA during her children’s days at Ridge Road Elementary School. Michele moved to North Haven 15 years ago when her husband Ryan was completing his internship and residency at Yale. While she loved the area, being involved in the PTA helped her form relationships.

“I like the size of the town and I really like the strength of the community,” says Michele. “One of the really great benefits [of being involved in the PTA] is meeting the other parents, especially when you’re a new parent to the school after the preschool years.”

During her years working with Ridge Road’s PTA, Michele led several school spirit fundraisers and chaired the Lyman pie fundraiser. She enjoyed seeing the PTA’s efforts pay off with events and activities for the students.

“It’s really rewarding to work on projects with other parents and see the rewards that year,” says Michele. “Those efforts support actual things your kids do within that year and it’s nice to see.”

Michele has seen how students’ needs have changed over the years as her sons have moved from elementary school to middle school and high school. At Ridge Road, Michele spent a lot of time in the school as a room parent and volunteering in the classroom, at bake sales, events, and more.

At the middle school, she has found that while she is not in the building as much, the support of the PTA is still needed. The PTA raises funds to support school-wide programs such as cultural arts presentations, speakers, and Rachel’s Challenge.

“In elementary school, I spent a lot of time physically in the building, but in middle school, the support comes in a more hand-off sort of way,” says Michele. “At the middle school, they’re trying to transition kids to be a little more independent, but the students still need to be supported.”

Despite being actively involved at the elementary school, it was not until this year that Michele found a place on the board. She is now the vice president of NHMS’s PTA.

She is quick to give credit to her fellow board members, noting that they “work really well” together. This year the board worked to increase membership among both parents and staff. Michele encourages people to not only join the PTA but to take part in the meetings as well.

“We always welcome people to come to meetings with new ideas or to hear about what’s going on,” says Michele. “It’s really important and I’m fortunate to be in a position where I have the time to do it. I always found it really important to know what’s going on in our schools and as a PTA member, you have a vote in things, so if a proposal comes across that you don’t like, you have the opportunity to speak up and have your voice heard.”

In addition to being involved in the PTA, Michele and her family volunteer in a number of other capacities. For the past two years, she and her sons have raked leaves for veterans. Her family also volunteers at Columbus House through Spring Glen Church where Michele serves on the Christian Education Committee and Hospitality Committee, which makes meals for those in the hospital or in other transitional times.

“For as many things as we can, we do together,” says Michele, who loves baking, reading, quilting, traveling, and outdoor activities like snowshoeing. “It’s nice to volunteer with them and I hope that they grow up and continue to volunteer.”

Michele has seen just how important her work with the school is and what fundraisers, like Box Tops for Education, mean to the school. She referred to the recent Education Cost Sharing grant cuts, noting the PTA “tries to make up some of the difference.”

The PTA encourages students to bring in box tops by rewarding the winning team at each grade level with a pizza party. Michele encourages everyone in the community to clip and collect their box tops, being sure to check the expiration dates.

“Lots of people just keep them in a Ziploc bag or envelope and when they think of it, they drop it off at the library or senior center,” says Michele. “It really does make a huge difference in all of our schools. It’s free and it’s a really easy way to support North Haven students. It’s nice to see how school community and North Haven community really pull together to support the schools.”