Giving is often referred to as the reason for the season. It is no different in the halls of MCHS. Over the past several weeks, two student groups have been giving back to their communities. The students of iJAG had its fourth annual, very successful canned food drive, and Student Senate held its annual Cheer Fund festivities.
In our interview, Mr. Jeremy White listed a number of groups in the community and district outside of the high school who donated. Among these were Lincoln Intermediate School, the school board itself, and Roller City, who coordinated with freshman Danika Brooks to host a Sunday Skate where donations were accepted. Along with these outside sources, the students of iJAG have been involved within MCHS as well. They have had daily announcements, given by Danika Brooks and Jasmine Freudenberg, raising awareness about hunger in North Iowan families. They also held an in class competition, seeing which period throughout the day could collect the most cans. Second period, a class of roughly 15 students, brought in 400 cans of food. The second most came in at about 170 cans. When asked if there was an incentive for winning this competition, Mr. White said “We really want to teach the kids about giving without getting anything in return. It is about feeling good because we helped others.” He also said “Many students know what it is like to go hungry, and just want to help crush hunger.” When all of the food, collected over Monday and Tuesday and taken to Hawkeye Harvest, is weighed, Mr. White expects to come in around 2500 to 3000 pounds, solidly over the goal of 2000 pounds, or 1 ton of food.
Student Senate also held its annual Cheer Fund drive. They sold chain links for 25 cents apiece, for the chain of names. The set up is that the winning chain that is cut gets to keep half of the money raised. They also ran a drive in Mohawk Pride Time, where classes competed for a box of suckers depending on highest amount raised and highest class average. This has been the fundraiser for the last several years, and has hit a bit of a snag. The total experienced a sharp decline from $2066.61 in 2015 to 726.13 this drive. Not to be discouraged, Student Senate is already looking for ways to rejuvenate the winter donations, and Frau Grommesh has high hopes for the future.
Charity and generosity are things that are sorely needed during the holidays, and MCHS is tackling these issues through multiple fundraising activities and spirited events. Students are getting involved in giving back to their community, and expressing the reason for the season.