Alex Troutt has thousands of reasons to be proud of himself today – 4,000, in fact.
That’s how many dollars he raised to purchase 46 outdoor backpack racks that were installed recently at Heron School.
Alex proposed the project and vowed to help finance it – and sure enough, he accomplished that, soliciting checks or commitments from family acquaintances or legislative connections of his mother, Alana, a Capitol aide. Separately, Heron’s PTSA chipped in $1,000.
“It feels good to help,” the 9-year-old said.
Not a single prospective donor said no, Alex said, adding that he was pretty confident that good people would give to a good cause.
“Some of them, since they were far away, we called them,” he said of prospective donors. “And some of them, since they were my mom’s friends, they lived around here, so we went and talked with them.”
Asked why he wanted outdoor racks, Alex said that students currently sling their backpacks onto classroom chairs and often they fall off. Kindergarten students already had access to outdoor racks, so why not older students? Alex’s project provides the racks through sixth grade.
Alex’s mother, Alana, said that he and a close friend have coordinated other community service projects the past few years, including gathering books for Oak Park preschoolers and board games for foster youth in that community.
“We’ve always been proud of him,” Alana said. “He’s always had a very giving, sharing heart.”
From his toddler days, Alex was raised to help others. When he was 3 years old, for example, his parents required him to give away a third of his birthday presents. “He resisted it at first, like any 3-year-old would, but by his 5th birthday he had some boys over who were helping him unwrap and he was putting the gifts in piles (to give some away),” Alana said.
Heron Principal Marcia Bernard said that Alex – who dreams of being an entrepreneur – learned “many life skills” in the backpack rack project. The fifth-grader was involved in calculating the number of outdoor racks needed, for example, and planning for their acquisition.
“He’s very generous, he has a sweet heart, he’s very kind, he’s articulate, and he knows what he wants,” Bernard said. “He’s very close to his mother and he’s definitely been raised around these ideals. He’s a go-getter.”
