December 27, 2007

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

The spirit of giving is alive at Castillero

By Shana McLean Moore
Staff Writer

Though the Leadership and Project Cornerstone students at Castillero Middle School are still young enough to have visions of sugarplums dancing in their own heads, they worked hard to bring holiday delight to others this season.

Castillero Leadership students wrap gifts they have collected for the local Head Start preschool.

The Leadership class, led by teacher Jean Hendrickson, focused its energy on collecting non-perishable food items to donate to the Second Harvest Food Bank and toys to donate to a local Head Start preschool.

“We wanted to help families here in San Jose who don’t have enough to eat,” said eighth grader Jill Shiraki, who was in charge of the food drive and proud of the nine barrels of food the class collected during the first three weeks of December.

To help the students understand the need for help, Hendrickson asked them to research hunger. The students were shocked by the statistics. They quickly discovered that 11.7 million children in the United States live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in 10 households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

“This discovery really motivated the students,” said Hendrickson. “They really enjoyed collecting the food and were anxious to see the barrels get filled up. Each day they came back to the classroom to report the total after the day's collection.”

Maya Jenkins, who led the group’s toy collection efforts, said, “It’s fun donating to kids to give them a Christmas they wouldn’t be able to have without our help.” Fellow group leader Brittney Rodriquez agreed and was proud of the 13 boxes of wrapped gifts the group collected and wrapped to share with local preschool students. “We have about 200 gifts to give them!” said Rodriquez.

Hendrickson added that this group of Leadership students “really got into the concept of making the holidays brighter for kids who may not get any gifts. It was a concept that many of our students found foreign and when we discussed it, you could tell that it made an impression on them.”

The Project Cornerstone students, organized by teacher Gwen Anderson, focused on collecting books and games for the U.S. soldiers serving overseas. They were inspired to help the cause started by South Bay Blue Star Moms, a support group for families who have loved ones serving the United States Armed Forces.

The Cornerstone students had the goal of brightening the day of some soldiers by sending books and games to distract them from the realities of war. “We want to give the soldiers something to do when they are not on the battlefield,” said sixth grader Jacob Langedyk who helped lead the project. Fellow organizer Jose Lopez added, “We want to give them things to help them forget about what they are doing.”

In an effort to raise money to buy more games and books, the Cornerstone students sold “Snow Pals.” Students were invited to purchase the small stuffed snowmen, reindeer and Arctic animals for $2 and have them be delivered to their friends as a holiday surprise. Once the numbers are totaled from the sales, the proceeds will be used to purchase additional gifts for the troops.

Anderson is inspired by her students’ enthusiasm. “The students are excited to give to others. They have spent the last four weeks having fun while collecting and pairing items to wrap together,” she said.

While the students will undoubtedly be excited to receive gifts this holiday season, they will now also know the joy of giving the gift of food, toys and much-needed distraction to those whose Christmas wouldn’t be as merry without the charitable acts of involved community members, young and old.

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