Friday's Internet Edition, July 03, 2009.
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As a part of Davidson County’s K-14 initiative to encourage more students to go to college, they dressed up in ACC shirts and other college gear Friday and learned about higher education. In a week-long food drive, the children also collected nearly 4,300 cans for Crisis Ministry of Davidson County.
“Because of the economy, people are losing their jobs and getting laid off, and they can’t afford food for their families,” said Siera Baldock, a fourth-grader. “This is helping them so they don’t have to worry about going hungry.”
Steve Reynolds, the new principal, said that he had organized similar events at another school, but he did not expect the response when he brought the idea to Davis-Townsend.
“It was just a terrific outpouring from our community,” Reynolds said. “It far exceeded our expectations.”
Students could designate canned food donations to different schools throughout the week, lining them up under signs for each college. The most items were placed under the sign for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Other schools featured in the food drive were Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
“We hope to make it an annual thing where we tie it into the ACC tournament, and at the same time, get our kids interested early in college and what that’s all about,” Reynolds said.
Baldock said that the event made her and other students excited about going to college. Her class, taught by Pam Burkhart, was divided into groups last week that learned the mascot, colors, motto, song and other traits of an assigned school.
“We want to be all sorts of important stuff like doctors and lawyers, but we have to go to college to do that,” she said.
Like Baldock, classmate Addison Bryant doesn’t know what college she might want to go to just yet, but she enjoyed learning about them and is excited to find out more.
To boost participation, different classes competed with each other for the most cans donated, and Baldock’s and Bryant’s class won second place with 300 cans. They will get a popsicle party, along with other classrooms that gave more than 100 items.
“I think it was cool, because I think it helped bring in a lot more cans,” Bryant said. “People like competition.”
Bryant said that she sometimes donates scarves, gloves and coats to charity. Baldock participates in a medicine drive with her church, and their classmate Merrick Dyson helps his mom collect donations through church. Dyson said that if the students had fun with the food drive, they may want to do more for the community.
“You don’t have to just do it with school,” he said. “You can donate stuff to local charities like Meals on Wheels, Pastor’s Pantry or one of those ... I would like doing a lot of stuff like that.”
Staff Writer Karissa Minn can be reached at 888-3576 or newsdesk@tvilletimes.com.