On a lovely spring morning in April, a young kindergartner at Ellis Elementary in Chubbuck named Merrick was having an absolutely wonderful day! His morning at school started with encouraging announcements from the school principal, Denise Lane, “April is fearless month: Which means not being afraid to try new things even if you do not succeed.” This was followed by a fun, fundraising game of “Penny Wars” between the various classrooms.

Upon the conclusion of the game, the Idaho Lottery’s Community Ambassadors and team delivered his teacher, Elizabeth Hall, a big Classroom Wishlist award worth $2.052. Merrick was the first kindergartner to correctly tell us the check was worth, “Two thousand and fifty-two dollars.” Her award consisted of multi-sensory tools and other classroom materials to help young students be successful.

“More multisensory tools make learning more fun, which can not only increase engagement for those learners who are struggling and have different learning needs, but also to decrease behaviors and inattention to the whole class,” said Hall. “These tools are proven to help students to learn the basic skills – alphabet and numbers – especially for dyslexic learners and other student populations with learning difficulties.”

At the conclusion of the award ceremony, Merrick informed the Lottery crew that the day was his birthday, and that the Lottery’s visit was the best present. That was until it was time, about five minutes later, when Merrik’s class had to leave for their field trip to the local fire station.

And all of that before 9 am on a Tuesday. Oh, to be a kindergartner again.