Mason Mayer is the epitome of pure joy. His sweet spirit and bubbly personality are enough to light up any room. Mason is kind, caring and incredibly smart. While he is only in kindergarten, the Greenfield Elementary student has already mastered the art of giving.
“We were really proud of his decision,” said Tif Mayer, his mother.
Mason recently asked his parents, Tif and Brian, for a set of Magna-Tiles®. The educational toys inspire creativity, the development of motor skills and support STEM learning.
“I wanted to get Magna-Tiles®, but they were over 200 dollars,” Mason said.
Tif and Brian wanted to teach him the value of a dollar, so they encouraged Mason to earn money to help contribute to the cost. However, Mason’s goal quickly changed.
“When school started, he saw that we needed to get some things for class, so instead he decided to use the money for that,” Tif said.
Out of the generosity of his heart, Mason wanted to surprise his teacher, Heather Costa, with items from her Amazon Wish List. Costa sent the list to her students’ families and shared it on social media.
“In 24 years, you think you’ve seen it all. This is the first time I have seen this, and it literally put me to tears,” Costa said.
Mason, with the help of his parents, set up a stand in his neighborhood to sell lemonade and homemade M&M and chocolate cookies. The money from his sales went towards purchasing items from Costa’s list. The Mayers were able to buy floam, poster board, craft kits, building activities and a letter ‘C’ lamp.
“It literally makes him so happy to see her happy,” Tif said,”I can’t even express to you how much he loves you.”
As an educator, Costa believes her main goal is making sure that her kids fall in love with learning. She wants them to come to school feeling safe and comfortable with being themselves.
“We just want them to be inspiring to everyone. Mason’s just the shining star,” Costa said.
The Mayers live right outside the boundaries of Greenfield Elementary, but after doing a tour of the school, they knew right away that it would be the perfect place for Mason to thrive.
“We just gravitated toward this school,” Brian said.
Principal Julie Oster is new to Greenfield Elementary this year. She says the campus community has far exceeded her expectations.
“It’s truly a magical place here. I know that a lot of people say that, but they don’t know what it looks like until they are at Greenfield Elementary,” Oster said, “I just feel very fortunate to be in the position that I’m in and working with these amazing teachers and kiddos.”
Mason has really flourished in Costa’s classroom. He loves doing math, science projects and putting small fuzzies in the Warm & Fuzzy jar. When the jar fills up, Mason and his classmates get a special treat or prize. While it is very exciting, Mason says there’s something else that he truly enjoys about kindergarten.
“Making new friends is the best one,” he said.
Tif and Brian are hoping that Mason will want to continue the lemonade stand tradition every year. They believe that it is teaching their son valuable lessons that will help him later on in life.
For his future, his parents are hoping that he will continue to succeed at Greenfield Elementary and beyond.
“Other than academically, I just want his heart to keep getting bigger and just keep giving back. He’s lucky with what he has at home and he needs to give to other people,” Brian said.
