Principal Spends Night on Roof for Awesome Reason

Elementary school students hit their fundraising goal
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 27, 2017 12:45 PM CDT

Steven Vercellino likes to come up with fun challenges for his students at Michigan's Forest Elementary School during the annual school fundraiser, and this year he went really big: The principal promised to spend a night on the roof of the school if the students raised $20,000. And, of course, they did. So last week, on Thursday, he got up on the roof and set up camp, including a tent, sleeping bag, and heater—and even a nightstand, a lamp, and Halloween decorations. As the students left school for the day, they saw him already up on the roof. "There was a lot of squealing," the president of the school's PTA tells Today. "They were very excited." He had to come down for parent-teacher conferences, but was back on the roof in time for students to return at night to visit him.

Visitors brought coffee and hot chocolate, the staff ordered him a pizza, and a brother and sister brought him a teddy bear "so I wouldn't be alone," Vercellino says. "That was really cute." Between the visitors and local news crews who came to report the story (not to mention the temperatures in the low 40s), he only ended up sleeping about two hours, then went to work for a full day and stayed after for the school's evening trick-or-treating event. "I made a challenge and I lost. But actually I won, because the kids raised $20,000," Vercellino, who is in his eighth year as principal of the school, told Fox 2 Detroit last week. "I’m running out of challenges that will stump these kids," he added to WXYZ from the roof. "They’re amazing and they rise to the occasion each time." Past challenges have included lip-syncing "Shake It Off" and riding a tricycle while wearing a costume. (More uplifting news stories.)

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