Capital HS heads up annual canned food drive

  • Decrease Text Size
  • Increase Text Size
Capital HS heads up annual canned food drive
High school students pose with armfuls of canned foodAs winter break approaches, our schools are in the midst of participating in canned food drives across the district. Whether it’s individual canned food drives at the elementary or middle schools, or joining in the concentrated effort at Capital and Olympia high schools, students and staff enjoy their time engaging in this community-focused opportunity. Leadership student Caroline Hurley says, “We get to engage people in our school who aren’t always a part of something like this.”

At Capital High, all first period classes are engaged in a competition against each other. The winning classroom will receive Cougar Pride T-shirts. Currently, there is a significant rivalry developing between two of the English classrooms. Teachers Aaron Street and Caroline Street are fully enjoying the competition. “I think Mr. Street is in the lead right now,” says Leadership student Caroline Hurley. Leadership student Owen Schmidtzinsky was quick to point out that Mr. Street is well aware of the standings; “Every day Mr. Street updates our class on who is ahead.”

Students help sort canned foodCapital High School also participates in an annual Walk N Knock event. Leadership Teacher Angel Elam says she got the idea from her time spent teaching in the Centralia area. The Centralia Chronicle would send out paper bags in their newspaper, and members of the community would then gather the canned food on the predetermined pickup day.

Capital High School’s leadership students go out as a group into neighborhoods with a high concentration of houses. The students leave the paper bags on porches with information about the canned food drive and the date they plan to pick up. “I liked talking to people in the neighborhoods. They shared how thankful they were that we were helping out,” Owen says. Elam praises her leadership students, saying, “It’s fun to see the students take the lead, and how everyone pulls together. My whole focus in leadership is Character Strong. We are here to do things for others.” Clubs such as DECA and the National Honor Society are also banding together with leadership students to participate in this Walk N Knock opportunity.

Thurgood Marshall Middle School has also had a great time with their school competition. If the school reaches its goal of 1,300 canned food items, three teachers will receive whipped cream pie in their face: sixth grade teacher Jennifer Huff, seventh-grade teacher Justin Gurnsey and eighth-grade teacher Ashley McCabe” says ASB Advisor Alma Bass.

The school has also taken the opportunity to team up with Capital HS to help them reach their own goal. “Capital is doing the honors of collecting them from us and taking them to the food bank,” Bass says.

We’d like to sincerely thank all our elementary, middle and high schools that participated in canned food drives this year. What a wonderful way to give back to our community during the holiday season!