Recently, the Student Government Association,or SGA for short, decided to hold a fundraiser. However, this fundraiser is not to raise money for the SGA: it is to collect food for local people in need. Students from all grades at John I.Burton have been asked to bring in certain nonperishable food items to the classroom of Mrs. Stephanie Adams, business teacher and sponsor of the SGA. There is a competition between each grade to see who donates the most. Those that donate the most will receive a prize that. According to Mrs. Adams, the fundraiser is for the local food bank, whose headquarters collapsed after last winter's snowstorms. The food bank has since relocated to a room in the building formerly known as a Magic Mart, which is currently owned by Norton Community hospital.
Mrs. Adams said the decision to donate to the food bank came during the group's September meeting. Sam Shortt, president of the senior class, came up with the idea. In an interview with Sam, he said that the fundraiser was "...something that Pound Middle School had done and it was very successful."
He also came up with the competitive element to motivate students into participating in the fundraiser. Once the idea was suggested, it was immediately accepted by all SGA members.
Mrs. Adams believes that the purpose of the SGA is to bring students together provide services with the community in mind. She also believes that this fundraiser specifically fulfills that purpose. There are talks among members of the organization to have fundraisers for money as well. These plans include a having a student carnival to raise money for each individual class. There are also plans to hold non- fundraising events for students, including a Career Day where students can dress up for their dream job and obtain information from several guest speakers about several career paths.
Sam says that he is open ideas for activities that the SGA can organize. He can then take those suggestions and propose them to the other members of the association. Sam believes, "When it comes to food drives like this, or anything else, if you want change , then you have to change."