Last year my officers had the amazing opportunity to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah to sponsor Carson, a seven year old boy with a brain tumor. His wish was to go to Disney World and, with the help of the generous student body of HHS, we were able to make his wish come true! When the 2016-2017 officers were planning for this school year, they immediately wanted to sponsor another child. In fact, one of the new officers told me that she specifically ran for office so she could participate in this campaign. It is pretty magical!
This year we were able to sponsor McKelle, a girl who has cerebral palsy and hearing loss. She loves the Disney princesses so we based our "Wish Week" around the princess theme. One of the officers designed a special shirt for the week with Cinderella as the logo and we sold the shirts as a fundraiser. We also ordered Make-A-Wish wristbands (we sold out of them in two days) and sold stars that students could write their names on to hang in the commons. In addition, we held our 2nd Annual Dodgeball Tournament which raised quite a bit of money. Like last year, we created a huge thermometer with challenges that the officers would complete in our Wish Assembly if certain monetary goals were achieved.
We introduced McKelle to the student body at the beginning of the assembly and she certainly charmed everyone in the gym. My friend made her a princess shirt and she was so excited!
We had her Mom and several of her siblings speak to the crowd about the difficulties McKelle goes through on a daily basis. They also spoke about her love of the Disney princesses. She wants to go to Disney World so much that she has a bag packed by her bed ready to go!
Then we had a "Miracle Minute" where the officers went into the crowd to collect money. HHS donated almost $1,000 in that minute!
Then the officers completed the challenges. One of them was "Egg Roulette." We had hard boiled and raw eggs and each officer had to pick one to smash against their forehead. The raw egg was a little bit messy!
Another challenge was "Mystery Baby Food." The officers were blindfolded and we fed them such delicacies as carrots, beets, squash, and peas. Apparently, the peas are pretty gross!
Several officers had to eat a raw onion. I didn't think this would be too bad but, apparently, it was disgusting! We also had the boys wax their legs (like last year) and one of the officers cut her long hair!
When we were brainstorming different challenges, the officers wanted to have a tarantula walk on the officers who were afraid of spiders. I didn't think that the administration would approve this challenge but they did with the proviso that we not harm the tarantula. I thought that was hilarious! It turns out that tarantulas are very fragile and, when I picked it up from the pet store, I was given lots of instructions. When I was in college getting my teaching certificate, no one ever said that I would have to be a tarantula wrangler!
Throughout the week, we sold raffle tickets to students for the chance to throw a pie at their favorite teacher, coach, or administrator. We drew twelve names and this was the highlight of the assembly! I can't imagine why but we made lots of money with this challenge! (The teachers, coaches, and administrators were very good sports!). We were able to present a check to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah in the amount of $4,021.25!
Several of the officers dressed up as princesses to give McKelle a tiara and a trip to Disney World! This week was so much work but it was worth it just to see McKelle's face when her wish was granted! She programmed her iPad to thank the crowd and they gave her a standing ovation. Such an amazing experience!
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