By Evelyn Rubens, Quill Writer
Between November 3rd and November 21st, River Hill organized a fundraiser aimed at providing recess equipment to Swansfield Elementary and Talbott Springs Elementary, two impoverished schools in Howard County. These schools often lack access to new resources for students, including recess equipment and books Our school helped provide the two schools with new recess materials, exceeding the initiative’s goal of raising $2,500.
The service project was split into two parts. The first part was to raise $2,500 for recess supplies, including board games, coloring books and balls. River Hill ended up raising $2,844.65, more than $300 over the goal. 9th grader Annabel Xu, who assisted working at the donations table for SGA, said “I was very proud working at that table and helping the schools that needed funding. I felt incredibly accomplished when we surpassed our goal.”
To incentivise students to donate, the school established a class competition: the grade who donates the most to the cause wins. Annabel reflected on what a great motivator this was, saying “the fundraiser competition was a very good idea for such a competitive school, and with all of the amazing parents and students at River Hill, it was truly a smart plan that raised a lot of money.”
Ultimately, the sophomore class won and earned a popsicle party. Sophomore Doris Ji, a contributor to the cause, said, “It was really amazing that our grade united to raise money for a good cause, and it really shows how much the sophomores care about the school. The popsicles were great, but it was truly awesome that we raised so much money and worked together for a great purpose.”
The second part of the project will start in January, where English teachers will be collecting books for the elementary schools. Ms. Noecker, the project coordinator, describes her goals for the second phase, “Part two starts in January, when we get back from winter break. All English classes will be tasked to collect gently used children’s books. The class that collects the most will earn an individual class reward along with Top of the Hill points.” Swansfield and Talbott Springs will greatly benefit from these books, and the school encourages everyone to donate a book or two. Many people have books lying around from when they were in elementary school that they no longer use, and this is a great way to clear up space, and make many elementary schoolers very happy.
“The reason why we wanted to do a school-wide service project is so that we can make a bigger impact. We collected over $2500 and the amount of equipment we purchased the students will be so exciting to use,” Mrs. Noecker explains.
The fundraiser allowed the school to make a greater impact on the lives of these students. If you didn’t get a chance to donate, don’t worry, because you will have another opportunity to make an impact in part two! Overall, this was a great opportunity for our school to make a difference and improve the lives of these elementary school students.