A Year of Students’ Good Works

I t's distressing sometimes here in newspaperland when we have to report once again on a crime or other nega- tive story about our local schools and their students. This fall, especially it seems, the bad news has been com- ing regularly: A swastika burning at Dayton Schools, kids dressed up in KKK costumes for Halloween, a bomb scare, a sexual assault.

But as 2013 comes to a close, we want to forget about all that and take a look at some of the good things our lo- cal students are doing. And they're very good indeed. For instance: Tackling Diabetes Last week we reported on Waitsburg HS senior Heidi Miller, who decided to learn more about diabetes after her grandmother recently experienced diabetes-like symp- toms. Miller has made learning more about diabetes her senior project. And she is hosting a fundraiser for diabetes research on the evening of January 3 at Coppei Café in Waitsburg. Ladles of Love The First Congregational Church in Dayton needed someone to step in and organize their monthly community soup and bread dinners. Dayton High graduate and WWCC honor student Luci Berg stepped forward and made the commitment. She even came up with the name: Ladles of Love.

On the last Friday of each month, everyone in the com- munity is invited to the church for a free meal and, more importantly, great company and conversation. Leo Club Food Drive Members of Waitsburg's Leo Club, the student affiliate of the Lions Club, organized a food drive competition in Waitsburg in November. The drive pitted the four classes at WHS against each other to see who could bring in the biggest haul of food. 1,267 pounds of food were collected, with the junior class coming out the big winners. They collected nearly half of that themselves. All the food was donated to the Waitsburg Resource Center. Standing up to Bullying In October, Waitsburg HS's ASB decided to take on bullying. The groups officers put together a month-long awareness campaign, focusing on four types of bullying: physical, verbal, cyber and sexual. Each of the officers, Nick Pearson, Kyle Dozier, Devin Acevedo and Kendra Roberts, put on a presentation on one of the four areas. No to Driving and Texting 2013 WHS graduate Logan Dozier has created a cam- paign to teach young drivers the dangers of distracted driv- ing. With a $500 distracted driving grant from State Farm Insurance, Dozier has conducted a survey of teen drivers and put together a set of educational materials. Soles 4 Souls Another 2013 WHS graduate, Seth Deal, created a pro- gram last year to collect shoes for those who can't afford them. As an accomplished track and cross country athlete, Deal knows the importance of a good pair of shoes. In January and February, Deal collected dozens of pairs of shoes for the Soles 4 Souls program. The Organization dis- tributes donated shoes to poverty stricken areas throughout the world. We're sure there are many other students around here, that we haven't reported on, who are doing wonderful things. If you know of any, please let us know. We'd like to help spread the word.