Student Council gathers gift cards
Rocky Heights Middle School Student Council (StuCo) recently organized a schoolwide Caring Competition, gathering nearly $3,000 in gift cards for Marshall Fire victims. Additionally, StuCo donated $1,000 cash from its own coffers to benefit the Community Foundation of Boulder County.
The recent Rocky Heights Middle School (RHMS) Student Council (StuCo) community service project was a fundraiser to aid victims of the Marshall Fire.
The idea was to promote a Caring Competition throughout the school and across all three grade levels. “This year we saw a real local need because of the Marshall Fire,” said RHMS family and consumer science teacher and student council sponsor Sharon Majetich. “The group spoke a lot about what it would feel like to be one of those middle schoolers that lost everything. They started researching ways to help.”
Between January 18 and February 18, StuCo asked for gift card donations. The grade level team that brought in the most won a team pizza party. To make their donation more meaningful, student council matched up to $1,000 in a cash donation. The cash was raised from last year’s annual Valentine’s Day sucker sale.
After StuCo completed some research about the type of gift cards needed, they asked for donations toward replacement of household and personal items that had been destroyed in the fire, like clothes and furniture. Food gift cards from restaurants and grocery stores were also requested from the Community Foundation of Boulder County and the Sister Carmen Community Center, a nonprofit partner of the Boulder Disaster Assistance Program.
The sixth grade Cliffhanger team won the pizza party, with $941 dollars in gift cards donated. The gift card total schoolwide was $2,826. With the matching cash donation, StuCo was able to donate nearly $4,000 to the Community Foundation of Boulder County and the Boulder Disaster Assistance Program.
StuCo is comprised of 30 students – 10 from each grade – who meet every Wednesday morning. They are dedicated to serving their fellow students and working toward improving their school and community. They typically do one off-site community service opportunity each quarter.
The StuCo kids were “very sympathetic and supportive,” said Majetich. She was touched by “how willing the StuCo kids were to jump in and help people they didn’t know at all. Their kindness is inspiring.”
