Canned food drive comes to a close

The SGA collected 3,272 cans in this year's canned food drive, improving on last year's 2,456 cans. This year, the proceeds from the canned food drive were used to benefit a local food bank in White Oak.

Maryann Dvorsky's Analysis of Algorithms class won the classroom competition with contributing 559 cans. Michael Horne's Literature as Film class and Lola Piper's Fundamentals of Computer Science class tied for second place with 439 and 345 cans respectively, as winners were based on total number of cans collected per student.

Students were able to bring in all types of canned food short of dried foods. Cans were totaled after each of the three collections, which occurred on Nov. 14, 20 and 30. A few more cans were given to the SGA office after the Nov. 30 deadline had passed.

Blazers contributed to the drive by bringing cans in to their second period class. The SGA encouraged Blazers to participate by offering incentives; the top three classes with the most cans will be awarded a free breakfast sponsored by the SGA and individuals who brought in at least four cans were given a sticker that allowed them to wear hats on the Fridays throughout November.

Dennis Heidler, who taught last year's winning class, was not able to participate directly due to his new position as Magnet Coordinator, which kept him from teaching a second period class. Instead, Heidler chose to endorse Piper's Fundamentals of Computer Science class and was active in obtaining canned food. "He came in a couple of times and gave pep talks to the kids. Some of the kids donated money and Mr. Heidler found the best buys and did the shopping," Piper said.

SGA Director of Community Outreach Margaret Khan and Deputy Director of Community Outreach Solu Bogati, who coordinated the event, attribute that success to some changes introduced to the canned food drive this year. One such change was increasing awareness of the drive by having SGA members speak to each second period class. This year, other classes, including a close fourth place effort by Richard Porac's health class, got into the spirit and made the food drive more competitive. "We got a lot of participation from classes that would not have normally participated," said Khan. Another significant change was providing each class with a cardboard box with which to hold the cans. "Giving each class a box was a great improvement and definitely helped a lot," said Bogati.

Despite all the rewards and incentives, some teachers and students believe that the experience all boils down to helping those in need. "The canned food drive is tremendously important. The cans that Blazers donate directly give families in our community food to eat at Thanksgiving and year-round. It doesn't really get any more important than that," said SGA President Eric Hysen.