Feature Photo By: Luis Ramos– The eye catching money pot, a decorated toilet made for LC, went around several classrooms. The money that was raised by the toilet was between $180-$200 in 3 weeks.
Victims that are currently fighting cancer or who have fought before know that it is an extensive process. They also know that throughout that run there will be hurdles capable of tripping up even the most unshakable individual to the ground.
Fighting this battle is how life began for LC, a four year old who was diagnosed with cancer at a very young age. Like LC, many others suffering from this excruciating disease have a strong ambition to reverse grimace.
Fortunately, this year Rangeview High School has teamed up once more with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to sponsor and assist one of these individuals in achieving their lifelong dream. LC’s wish is to visit Disney World in Orlando, Florida this upcoming summer.
Several students at Rangeview began this movement at school about two years ago; they claim that ever since, it has progressively gotten a lot better.
Darlenne Guerra, student body president and RHS senior, took charge of the Make-a-Wish Committee this school year. She claims that there has definitely been an improvement with how things are running this year considering that more people are now involved and things are progressing quicker.
This involvement includes Student Leadership, the National Honors Society (NHS), and numerous individual students that are currently involved. In the previous years, only a very few amount of students had participated in this event, which included the student body president and a few of the seniors.
Perhaps the best part of it, as Guerra asserts, is that there has been a lot more money raised in contrast to the previous years.
“I know that Rangeview can make this cause a big thing and that we can keep improving each year to eventually raise countless money,” said Guerra.
This year, roughly $2,280 has been raised towards the cause since the beginning of this school year, while the last two years only brought $2,000 back in total. The overall goal these participants are aspiring to reach is roughly $25,000.
Chloe Hobson, a senior at Rangeview, expressed her approval in Rangeview’s charitable movement.
“I think it’s good that we’re raising money and it’s going to a good place,” said Hobson. “It’s also showing people here at school how to give to people who need it more than we do and I think it’s something that we should continue to do and encourage students to do as well.”
So far, NHS has raised over $1,000 for the cause with a yard sale they held earlier this school year where students sold unneeded items from their own households. Leadership students have also contributed to the cause by coming up with innovative ideas to help raise money.
Tammy Strouse, Rangeview performing arts director, also contributed with her clever action points.
Among these ideas, “donation wars” went on in the school to spice up Rangeview’s spirit on producing the most amount of money. The class president who’s class produced the least amount of money got pied in the face by the class president who produced the most amount of money at the Anvil game.
There also came a new festivity to Rangeview known as “Hat Day” and of course an older one the community is more familiar with known as “Halloween Costume Day”. These events alone raised another $1,000 towards the Make-a-Wish. Guerra claimed that these will not be the last events Rangeview will see this year.
On Thursday January 12th there was a movie night at Rangeview with the same intentions of raising more money. Guerra urged the community to keep an eye out on the College and Career Center coming from break since the TVs will be displaying more information on this year’s sponsor, LC.
During the month of February there will be a “Wish Week”, an entirely new thing this year where numerous events will be hosted to fundraise towards the cause. However, instead of charging for these events, students involved with the committee this year are hoping to touch the hearts of many so they can willingly donate and help LC obtain her wish.
Something that staggered students the week before winter break was the toilet going around from class to class which the Make-a-Wish members call their “money pot”. It helped the community become more aware of the cause and made things more exciting which was the reason behind its appearance.
The money pot lasted from November 30 to December 15, 2016 and raised roughly around $180 on its own. This was attainable by having the money pot raise money by increments of $5 in each class, for example, when it began first in Mr. Brecht’s room his class had to raise $5 while the next had to raise $10 and so on.
The money pot proved to catch interest as it kept being moved around from class to class due to the fact that every class met their goal. Mr Brecht’s class only had to help by raising $5. Alternately, it raised $24 on the first day.
One powerful leader of the cause is Justin Clyatt, a campus monitor at Rangeview. “JC” ,as he likes to be referred to, is in charge of the Make-a-Wish Foundation Committee at Rangeview along with Guerra.
Guerra admits that she feels really confident for this year. Clyatt is really passionate about this foundation and, as a result, he demonstrates to the members that he wants them to excel, which motivates Guerra.
“I want that atmosphere, [I want] people at Rangeview to know that giving back to people isn’t just boring. It’s not just waking up at five in the morning and doing community service,” explained Guerra. “Giving back to people can be fun and exciting and we should want to give back to people. That’s what really motivated me to start, trying to get it to be a bigger event.”
Clyatt has been familiar with the cause since he worked at Smoky Hill High School. Although he was not previously in charge of the foundation, his experience has brought motivation to, not only him, but to the students he teamed up with at Rangeview as well.
In spite of the experience at Smoky Hill, motivation isn’t always gained from great occurrences. In many occasions, people are brought back up after taking a tough fall as it becomes the unparalleled option one has left.
“I’ve lost a baseball player to this [cancer] last year and sometimes it doesn’t work out,” Clyatt explained. “But, if you can do something that’s going to help them drive to succeed then I’m all about it.”
Clyatt hopes that kids stay involved with the Make-a-Wish Foundation and that more students come in to make this something that Rangeview could consider cultural.
In the end, this foundation not only helps puts a smile on the person battling the disease, but the people nearby that love them as well.
For more information on this foundation, visit:
http://wish.org/#sm.0003fcubt10cwdnow2323hmu163ln
