“The project provides class participants with hands-on experience applying the leadership skills they’ve developed throughout the academy — including teamwork, organization, and community engagement — while making a tangible difference in Clark County," she said.
Participants in the class worked in teams to compete against each other to see who could collect the most, coming up with different ideas on how to collect items. They hosted drives at their offices, and shared the word with colleagues and friends and on social media.
This year’s program was expanded to include partnerships with local school districts, including Global Impact STEM Academy, Greenon Local, Clark-Shawnee Local, Emmanuel Christian Academy, Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center, and Simon Kenton Elementary. The schools helped get the word out and then created fun incentives for students to participate, like pizza parties, spirit days and more.
The top-collecting team was GISA, with more than 1,400 pounds donated, including 1,200 pounds from its Upper Academy students.
“We value partnering with our local school districts and are incredibly grateful for their support,” Lawrence said. “Their involvement not only strengthened the project but also helped demonstrate to students the importance of civic engagement and servant leadership.”
As part of the academy and program, Lawrence said they always do a donation drive challenge, such as for things like the Pregnancy Resource Center, Salvation Army, Springfield Cancer Center, Rocking Horse and more, but this year they wanted to “make a bigger impact” by bringing in local school districts.
“This year we wanted to see all the donations go to the food bank so they could distribute the items to their partner pantries to help a larger group within the community,” she said. “We are incredibly grateful for the work of Second Harvest and the vital role they play in our community. Supporting their mission while providing our class with meaningful, real-world leadership experience is powerful.”
Kapp Construction and Gillam Lawncare and Landscaping LLC helped with gathering and transporting the donated items to the food bank.
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