OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Tipler Middle School Students decided to raise money and dedicate their end-of-year concert to the Day by Day Warming Shelter.
- Ryan Lindley teaches middle school choir at Tipler Middle School.
- Eighth graders in Lindley’s class say he’s welcoming and engaging.
- The students raised more $2,000, and they are dedicating their concert Thursday night to the Day by Dayshelter.
Lindley's eighth-grade students say they're happy to be in middle school choir.
“It brings me so much happiness being around people that love to sing,” eighth grader Isabelly Athayde said.
They said it’s more than their love for the music that makes them happy; it’s Lindley’s teaching style.
“He is such a great teacher, I cannot tell you enough,” Aiesha Zafarullah, one of Lindley’s students, said. “The class, everything — he just makes it so much more fun.”
After their concert at the district’s MLK Jr. Day celebration, Lindley said the students decided to start a fundraiser for the local homeless shelter.
Watch: Tipler Middle School choir dedicates concert to Oshkosh homeless shelter
“They said, ‘A lot of fundraisers help people outside of Oshkosh, and we want to make sure we’re taking care of people in Oshkosh,’ and I thought that was really profound for a bunch of eighth graders,” Lindley said.
The students raised money and collected donations for several weeks. Lindley said they raised $2,100 and filled seven boxes with donation items.
On Thursday night, the choir is holding a benefit concert for the shelter at 6:30 p.m.
“Just the fact that we can contribute to it, even as just students — I’m like so happy that we’re doing this,” Zafarullah said.
For Lindley, encouraging his students to be stewards in their communities is one of his missions as a teacher.
“Teaching middle schoolers, for me, really is about the person before the music — I always say that if you take care of the person, the music will come naturally,” he said. “My philosophy really is social, emotional … making sure kids understand how they fit in their small community, how they fit in the world, and how they can give back and how they can receive.”
The concert is part of the eighth-grade students’ last moments in Lindley’s choir.
“It’s kind of just an emotional thing for me, because it’s my last year singing for them and it’s also for a good cause,” Lacey Beyer, another of Lindley’s students, said.
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