From right, Broad Street Elementary School fourth graders Tyriq Mitchell, Stephen Parkinson and Gabbie Berry show their excitement about the school supplies they received from the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit Education Partnership on Friday.

To get into the holiday spirit, each student at Broad Street Elementary School on Friday received a large box with more than $40 in school supplies filled with items such as calculators, markers, paper and watercolors.

Smiles could not be contained as students fingered through the boxes. Many of the 250 students were particularly excited about their new calculators, which were promptly unwrapped and used immediately as if it were Christmas morning.

Ten-year-old Trevor Collins held his calculator up and showed it to his peers. He said he can't wait to use it during math class.

The gifts, and the bulk of school supplies students have received so far this school year, have come from the Education Partnership, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit. With more than 90 percent of the students at Broad Street in Butler qualifying for free and/or reduced lunches, readily available school supplies can't be taken for granted.

The school qualified for the program, and a group of Broad Street teachers applied for it in the spring.

At the beginning of the school year, “we have kids that come without backpacks. We have kids that come without everyday supplies,” said Megan Ratica, a fourth-grade teacher at the school.

“And before the Partnership, we would just front the bill ourselves. I mean, the district does everything that they can for us, but sometimes we need more.”

She said that in the past, many of the teachers had supplemented their own income to provide supplies for her students.

Ratica added, “If they're struggling to provide lunch at school, they're going to struggle to provide school supplies ... This partnership just helps boost up in a time of need.”

In August, teachers received more than $9,000 in supplies from an Education Partnership warehouse shopping trip. Teachers will return to the warehouse to replenish supplies in January and April.

But by the time the holiday season comes around, school supplies tend to run low. That's where the Education Partnership comes in, giving students supplies they can use at home and at school.

“We know the teachers and the students are in need of school supplies at right about this time,” said Jim Fields, an Education Partnership board chairman who visited the school on Friday. “And kids are so grateful.”

Nine-year-old Brooklyn Glass was “super duper” excited while sorting through her new supplies. And she not only thought of herself as a beneficiary, but others who could also benefit from her goodies.

“If someone else doesn't have anything, you can let them use these,” Brooklyn said.

“That's what I like about you guys,” Ratica told her students. “You like to share.”

Longmore Academy in Mars is the only other school in Butler County receiving supplies from the Education Partnership.