by Mia Burns
Each year around the holiday season, PCM High School does what they can to help out the community. Three groups in the school are making this possible.
The high school’s Student Government has adopted a family again this year. This has started to become a tradition for the club, and in the past years it’s been very successful. The club has been preparing for about a month now by trying to get donations from local businesses and doing everything they can to make their adopted family’s holiday successful.
“Student Government has made a really great tradition out of adopting a family for the holidays. Our kids work really hard to collect donations, gifts and money and also fundraise multiple times to help these families out. I’m really proud of our kids for all their work getting those donations and organizing fundraisers, but mostly how much they really care about our community and truly want to help people,” physical education teacher and Student Government leader Mrs. Tara Williams said.
If you are looking to support the club, the students will be collecting donations and hosting two chuck-a-ducks at home wrestling meets to help the family out.
Another random act of kindness this holiday season is coming from the PCM Key Club. They have bought stars off of the Christmas tree at the Monroe Public Library, which means that they are going to be donating to some families in need. On the tree, there are stars that contain items for either toddlers or kids that don’t have much or don’t normally get a Christmas. The parents of these children wrote down what they need, and they turn it into the library to then be hung on the tree. Brenda Tripp-Lanser, the library’s director, gave the club four stars with four families to sponsor. Each of the members of the club spent their own money to purchase the gifts for these families. The Key Club gave the library the presents that were purchased on Dec. 12, and the children will be receiving the gifts very soon.
“We have done this project for years, and we love giving to the people. Our volunteer group is full of people that are willing to step up to help the common people, and I am very proud of the group we have this year. They are truly amazing, and I wouldn’t want any other group to be Vice President of,” Junior Emily Keffer said.
The teachers, each year since 2014, have been raising money by having “Teacher Jeans Day.” They do this event at various times throughout the year, and teachers pay five dollars to participate in wearing jeans on the day the event is occurring. The money they raise is used towards several different community needs that come about during the year. The staff members love to wear jeans, so having this day is a great excuse to support a cause while doing it.
Another random act of kindness is from a retired PCM high school teacher Gordon Jones. On Dec. 19, he came to the high school and gave money to the secretary Michelle Lanphier to put into a few student’s lunch accounts.
“The staff and students both benefit on our Random Acts of Kindness Days,” High School Secretary Mrs. Michele Lanphier said.
