Members of Prep’s student council on Tuesday presented a check for $1,000 to Fine Art for Children and Teens (F.A.C.T.) in memory of the four teens who died in a car accident over the summer: Kate Klein, Alyssa Trouw, Rose Simmons and Julian Martinez. Klein and Trouw were students at Prep. The money was raised through a raffle in which students, faculty and parents bought chances for everything from jewelry to meditation walks to homemade waffles.
According to Prep senior and student council president Grace Penzell, “We chose F.A.C.T. to receive the money because our friends cared about the world and the people around them. We wanted to support something local and focused on youth to make sure our friends are remembered.” The money will be used to fund scholarships, said Anna Marie Tutera Manriquez, interim executive director of F.A.C.T., as she accepted the check.
Prep students have been raising money for charitable causes since Hurricane Katrina. Every year since, students have chosen a different charity or organization that supports youth programs as the beneficiary of their fundraising efforts. In addition to Katrina victims and F.A.C.T., the students have also donated money to the Santa Fe Youth Shelters and the Jensen Brown Memorial Fund.