As the first semester wraps up, two determined Bearcat Besties officers continue to bring light to their organization. Book after book begins to pile up outside of Bearcat Besties sponsor, Jana Wheaton’s, room as the officers begin to contact the Pythian Home for Women and Children to plan their donations.
Senior Abigail Huber and junior Brooke Rhoades are part of the Bearcat Besties and TAFE program, allowing them to compete in regional competitions. These competitions help showcase high school students’ teaching skills and allow them to gain new ideas for educational standards. Huber and Rhoads teamed together to create a board that included a service project that could impact others, which eventually narrowed them down to the book drive.
“We thought the book drive would be the best thing to do since it’s around the holiday season and there’s lots of kids in need around this time,” Huber said. “We mentioned on our poster that we think that books are very important for kids’ development, especially for the Pythian home since many are going through hard times and would enjoy an ‘escape’.”
The book drive is taking donated books from the school and giving them to the Pythian Home for children who don’t have access to books normally.
“We’re asking for book donations so that they can be taken at the Pythian home as an early Christmas gift for all of them,” junior Mackenzi Godber said. “We’re hoping to restock their libraries and build up their community.”
Supervisor of the Bearcat Beasties and the book drive organization Wheaton says that the organization has been doing extremely well in their TAFE competition and is based on how they founded the drive.
“Well, they just competed at Taffy this past weekend and took that service project idea and got one of the highest scores. Wheaton said, “The competition was based on how they started the organization and they are advancing to state now.”
While the book drive created by Huber and Rhoades was created as a TAFE program for people in need, the organization has seen positive impacts within the local community. Many students, members, and staff have contributed, and the books are growing fast.
“This drive makes us more active in the community and not just the elementary schools which I think is awesome,” junior Grace Giglio said. “Spreading the word about education and helping those in need not just to Coder but the whole community is something I hope we can do more of.”
With all Bearcat Besties’ prior experience with bringing a smile to Coder kids’ faces, this made the book drive even more achievable. Bearcat Besties prioritizes the happiness and inclusive feeling that they can bring to kids.
“We already get to work with kids who don’t have a ton of friends or don’t have many reasons to smile so every little thing counts for us,” president Conley Hamilton said. “So these books are kind of our way of impacting others days and giving them a good reason to smile.”
“Though these books will only be for the Pythian home, it feels good to say that we can help kids who aren’t just in Bearcat Besties,” Rhoades said. “Also we have accomplished the idea that the kids don’t have to be in Bearcat Besties for our organization to be able to touch their lives as well.”
