Local school scores with generous gifts from Weiland, Stoltze

BUTTE — Palmer High’s latest claim to Olympic fame, Kerry Weiland, has managed to inspire more than just young hockey hopefuls. Her past gift of 13 new computers to Butte Elementary School has now been mirrored by state Rep. Bill Stoltze.

Stoltze, who represents the Butte area and has donated smaller items to that school and others over the years, surprised Principal Dan Kitchin Friday with a $10,000 check to purchase about 13 more laptops for the school’s portable computer lab.

“There’s something special about Butte Elementary,” Stoltze said before revealing the gift made possible from his leftover campaign funds. “I have a very good friend who went to school in Butte, Kerry Weiland, who donated computers to the school and she asked if would help, too. She’s loves this school and so do I.”

Weiland, who currently resides in Canada, said Friday night that she was more than happy to help the school through a special program of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“It was an opportunity for me to give back to my home community and hopefully make a difference in students’ lives,” said Weiland, who won a silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics when she competed with the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team. “It’s a special place for me — the Butte and the school, let alone Palmer and the Valley.”

Weiland, now 30, said she’s developed a close friendship with Stoltze over the last couple of years and has a great amount of respect for him.

“His heart’s in the right place,” she said.

In the past, Stoltze’s donations to the school and others in the Valley were in the form of various school supplies, support for the agriculture program and reflective stickers for students’ coats to make their journeys safer.

This time, he wasn’t holding back his emotions or his generosity.

“I get a little emotional, for some reason,” he said as 10 of the school’s top students gathered around him in the library. “You have the best principal in the Mat-Su. He’s definitely the cream of the crop. He’s prepared you well.”

Kitchin told Stolze and Schools Superintendent Ken Burnley that when he first came to the school seven years ago, the library was a mess.

“It was just a big pile of books in here and nothing was organized,” he said, crediting the school’s library media specialist Terri Paulson with transforming it into the beautiful facility it is today. “Terri’s worked diligently on getting book shelves up and various learning stations and everything you see here. We couldn’t have done it without her and grant funds here and there.”

Paulson said the school’s 300 students are separated in classrooms averaging 20 students for the primary grades and 25 for the intermediate levels. Having a total of about 26 laptops now to wheel from room to room when needed will make a big difference for the students and their teachers, she said.

“This is so exciting,” she said as Stoltze, Kitchin and Burnley posed with the school’s “ambassadors.” The group of students was recently honored by the school for being able to hold onto the 100 points they all were given at the start of the school year for good conduct.

Stoltze said later that he feels lucky to have a little leftover campaign money to help others, as state law allows. But he feels even luckier to have a friend like Weiland to help him keep his priorities straight.

Although Weiland now lives in Toronto, Ontario, her heart remains in the Valley, he said.

“She was so excited when she heard I was doing this,” Stoltze said. “She’s emotionally attached to this place. Her parents still live in the Butte area.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.