Global Classroom School Supply Drive
National Honor Society students at Hanover High School in Hanover, MA, collected donations of school supplies from both their school and OfficeMax customers. Over the course of two weekends, for three hours per day, students stood outside the store and collected donations while also keeping a donation box in the main office of their school to encourage donations from classmates. Once all supplies were collected, they were packed into a box and shipped halfway across the world to a small, poverty-stricken town in the Philippines.
Fulfills Global Citizenship initiative strand: empathetic actions and wellness
Quench That Thirst
The student council at Arbor View High School in Las Vegas decided to team up with The Thirst Project—a nonprofit organization that strives to end the global water crisis by building drinking wells for people in African countries. The goal was to raise $24,000—more than any high school had ever contributed to the organization. By including donation incentives such as the assistant principal cornrowing her hair, the student body president shaving his head bald, throwing pie in teachers’ faces, and selling custom T-shirts, the lofty goal was reached by the end of the school year!
Fulfills Global Citizenship initiative strand: equity
Leadership Camp
Summer is a great time to prep your leaders for the coming school year. Student council students at Aiea High School in Aiea, HI, attend an annual leadership training session during the first week of June to bone up on their skills. During the first day, students learn the fundamentals of leadership. Another activity helped students conduct a mock meeting where parliamentary procedure and meeting etiquette was covered. Later in the day, the results from the school’s Evaluation/Appreciation Day were presented by the secretaries. This gave council members a chance to review the pros and cons of each school event that happened during the previous year, and the chance to enhance future events. Later, students went to the gym for leadership-oriented games and activities.
Care Packages for Cancer Patients
The student council at North High School in Sioux City, IA, assembled and donated care packages to the June E. Nylen Cancer Center in their city so their efforts could provide a positive impact on people who were going through a very challenging time. Each care package included a bottle of water, a snack item, breath mints, a bottle of hand sanitizer, a tube of lip balm, a bottle of lotion, a small notepad, and a pen. Students also decided to include handwritten messages in each of the care packages. The bag for the items included a message on the outside: “When it rains, look for rainbows. When it’s dark, look for stars. From the students at North High.” The council donated 200 care packages in total.
Fulfills Global Citizenship initiative strand: empathetic actions and wellness
Sock the Court
Here’s a fun way to “sock it” to homelessness. Student council members at Millard South High School in Omaha, NE, decided to raise awareness at their school by collecting socks for the needy in their community. They picked an important basketball game during the year and encouraged all attendees to bring socks to donate. During the game, student council set up a table with socks they had purchased for people to buy for a dollar. At halftime, the announcers counted down and yelled, “Sock the court!” Then, anyone who brought their own socks or purchased a pair from student council bombarded the court with socks at the same time. All pairs were collected, and the money people donated by purchasing socks was used to purchase even more. More than 500 pairs of socks were donated!
Fulfills Global Citizenship initiative strand: awareness/perspectives
Project Playtime
NHS students at Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock, IL, held two sports equipment donation drives by partnering with other local schools. Equipment collected over the course of two weeks included basketballs, baseballs, tennis rackets, football pads, roller blades, flag football gear, and jump ropes. Students were thrilled to deliver the goods to needy Catholic elementary schools in the Chicago area.
Fulfills Global Citizenship initiative strand: positive social change
A Grave Responsibility
NHS members at Isabella High School in Maplesville, AL, decided to restore an old family cemetery in their community that had not been cared for since 1981. The cemetery’s 33 graves were all overgrown by weeds and shrubbery. The project took almost a year to complete and required close to 500 hours of work, more than $1,650 in donations, and more than 25 volunteers and professionals. Underbrush was cleared from the cemetery, some larger trees were cut down, a sign was made and installed, benches were installed, and some headstones were made level. All headstones were cleaned, and six headstones were professionally reattached to their bases after being broken.
Fulfills Global Citizenship initiative strand: empathetic actions and wellness
A Sticky Situation
Armed with muscle power, plastic gloves, baggies, putty knives, and scrapers, intrepid NJHS members at Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach, VA, overturned desks and tables in the eighth-grade wing and scraped seven pounds of gum from the bottom of the furniture. Despite the gross-out factor, the students had a great time laughing and exclaiming how disgusting it all was—and reportedly thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. The building’s custodians were very pleased that more than 100 hours of their summer work had been completed for them by 60 eighth graders in one afternoon.