Last year’s holiday food drive at Ashland High School was a sorry sight. Though nearly 1,200 students make up the student body of AHS, we showed up at the 2010 holiday assembly with a measly 200 food items. Students shrugged and walked away as local elementary schools easily came up with larger donations.
This year, AHS came back with a vengeance. The Global Citizens Corps (GCC
) led the food drive, introducing the innovative idea of having individual advisory classes compete to collect the most food. The prize: a pizza party.
Back in November student senators brought cardboard boxes back their advisory classrooms and encouraged classmates to begin bringing in nutritious, nonperishable foods. The results were overwhelming. During today’s annual holiday assembly, 1,733 food items were stacked on the gym floor. This is about 500 items greater than last year’s count for the entire school district.
When asked why she thought this years food drive was such a success, GCC co-president Erin Keoppen responded “I think it was the team building aspect and the sense of competition. Also, just putting it out there. Last year, no one really new about it [the food drive]. This year, just seeing the box in your classroom every day reminded you to start bringing in food.”
Curious about how the competition stacked up? Below is a link to the list of the top 10 participating advisories and the number of food items they each contributed.
(Note: If you don’t see your advisory on the list, but are certain that you donated the appropriate number of cans, it might be due to discrepancies in the count)
1. Susan Minor – 206 cans!
2. Leeanne Wallace – 195 cans
3. Holly Johnson- 105 cans
4. Betsy Bishop – 102 cans
5. Mark Miller- 101 cans
6. Lori Thickett – 89 cans
7. Caroline Spear – 81 cans
8. Charlie Hall – 66 cans
9. Karen Berman and John Weston – 51 cans
10. Don Vallentini and Michelle Zundel – 50 Cans
