During the week of Dec. 8, the student council and senates collaborated to organize a food drive for the school. The grades competed to see who could collect the most items, and the winner got to tape one of State High’s security guards, Steve, to a wall.
To make this food drive as effective as possible, the State High Student Council and Student Senates collaborated to ensure the drive went as planned and received a significant amount of donations. The two groups of student leaders had a positive mindset and made a great impact.
“We were super excited to help out, and we actually ended up asking the student senates to collaborate with us, and it was honestly our first collaboration with the senates because we are currently going through a reconstruction process, so that was kinda a big step forward for us,” junior and Student Council Parliamentarian Yidi Zhang said.
“It was Student Council and all the class officers [that] were all very excited to do this and excited to be bringing like a community because I guess, yeah, showing initiative at State High, so that was kind of cool to see all of us come together,” Student Council President senior Grace Yang said.
The students reached out to the Helping Hands Pantry and asked when the best time for this food drive would be. They wanted to host it at a convenient time to ensure families in the community had access to food when they needed it, and the food bank could stay stocked during December, the busiest time when the most people are in need. The groups of students wanted to be helpful and make an impact.
“Student Council reached out to the helping hands pantry and said, ‘Hey, when’s the best time we should do this, when would we be the most help?’ and then from there it was all student-run- and we just wanted to make a difference,” freshman senate vice president Brynn Pezaliski said.
“We know that it is holiday season and we’ve heard that the food bank has been in need, and in previous years, student council also did a homelessness awareness drive, so this was kind of building off of that,” Yang said.
With this food drive going well, the student council and senate plan to host more events like this in the future. They may not know specifically what type of event, but they are ready to come up with ideas.
“The student council is really big on this, and the student senate loves being able to hop in on opportunities. They also have their own events and like initiatives and stuff like this. I don’t know if there’s gonna be a fundraiser or a drive necessarily, but senates are planning events like a volleyball tournament and work sessions,” Yang said.
Pezalski added her thoughts on continuing the initiative as an underclassman.
“I think we will, we are really in good touch with the helping hands community and food bank,” she said.
The food drive was very successful and ended up collecting over 500 items. Previously, State High food drives have not been as successful, so the student leaders were very happy about the outcome.
For now, keep an eye out for more drives, events and donations from the Student Council and Senate that are soon to come.
