The students at Washington Oak School were invited by the school principal, Dr. Donna Raptakis, to take time out of their classes to greet a special guest on Monday. The students later learned the surprise visitor was there not only to commend and reward them for the volunteer work they have been doing but also to present the school with a check for $500.

When Alan Shawn Feinstein walked into the packed gymnasium, the student body went wild, Raptakis said. The teachers, students and staff applauded Feinstein for his generosity and gleefully accepted their "Feinstein rewards."

In addition to the $500 reward check given to the school, each of the students received a Feinstein reward card that guarantees admission and VIP status to various attractions in the state.

"We have 550 kids and 84 faculty and staff at our school, so the gymnasium was pretty full for the assembly and they were all really excited to see Mr. Feinstein," Raptakis said. "They became even more so when he gave them their Feinstein cards to go to Roger Williams Zoo and to IMAX for free."

That is not all Feinstein has done for Washington Oak School, according to Raptakis. "Mr. Feinstein has been very generous to us" over the years, she said.

"He sent us, the whole school, an invitation to visit Battleship Cove," Raptakis said. "He also gives passes for all of our teachers to go and preview the movies that are coming out at the IMAX Theatre and, last year, he had Regal Reptiles come to us to do a presentation at the school."

Raptakis said the reason for Feinstein’s openhanded gift giving to Washington Oak is the school’s classification as a "Feinstein Leadership School." Schools are commended by Feinstein for the good deeds and charitable work they do and those that excel in that area are labeled as "Feinstein Leadership Schools," she said.

Washington Oak earned its recognition for the work it did with the Tomorrow Fund, the Coventry Food Bank, its own school and the community it is a part of, Raptakis said.

"So far this year, we have done the Band-aid and sticker collection for the children with cancer at The Tomorrow Fund, we collected cans for the food drive and that goes to the Coventry food bank, and our second graders collected Halloween costumes and we delivered those to Pat Shurtleff [at the Department of Human Services in Coventry] so she can distribute them to families who needed Halloween costumes," Raptakis said.

Raptakis said the school also held a Red Sox and Patriots Day to encourage the students to collect various games and sports equipment to be used at the school in physical education classes and also at recess times.

The school documents each of its good deed efforts into a newsletter which is published twice a year. Raptakis said she submits the newsletter to Alan Shawn Feinstein’s office for review and the school learns how it compared to others in the state.

"We submit newsletters twice during the year that reflect all the good deeds that we have done to Mr. Feinstein," Raptakis said. "On Sundays, he has a TV show where he announces five or six schools that deserve recognition for the volunteer work that they have done and, last week, he announced my school."

That announcement is what spurred the $500 reward check, but, according to Raptakis, there may be more to come.

"Last year, we won $3,000 by the end of the school year and, recently, we applied for a $10,000 grant from him for this year," she said. "He told me that we will hear by the first week in December if we got it or not."

For now, Raptakis said, she and the students are just planning how to spend the $500 reward. The plan she said, is to incorporate the reward into an existing volunteer program the school has historically coordinated.

Each year since its establishment, Washington Oak School has held a food drive to benefit the Coventry Food Bank. All the students in the school as well as the faculty, staff and parents are encouraged to bring in food for the drive.

This year, the group of students that contributes the most will be able to use a portion of the Feinstein award money to donate to a charity of its choice, Raptakis said.

"For the past three years, we have really worked to make our school not only an elementary school where kids come for education but also to make it feel like it’s a family," Raptakis said. "We want our students to feel a sense of belonging in the building. That is why I always tell them that I am like their second mom, so we take care of one another, and, because of the environment that we have managed to create, they want to give back to the community and that is why we decided to give some of the money that Mr. Feinstein gave us back into the community."