The weather at Adams Middle School is sunny with a chance of snowballs this week, most of which were accumulating around classroom doors and windows. The paper snowballs, dreamt up by the Associated Student Body (ASB), will be sold throughout the week for 25 cents to students and teachers who want to send a message without getting wet.
For a holiday fundraiser, the ASB class of 25 came together to brainstorm the event to help raise money for the American Red Cross and Hurricane Sandy victims.
“And we wanted to do something related to a holiday theme,” said 8th grader Regina Solar.
The “Snowball a Teacher” fundraiser mirrors the “Penny War” fundraiser they had last year for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. This year they decided to put a winter spin on the program and make it a fun competition for both students and teachers.
“It gets them pumped and is relevant to what’s happening now,” said 8th grader Anna Kurisaki. “Our goal is to raise $200.”
7th Grade Social Studies teacher Andrew Estrada and 8th grade teacher Ammie Ibarra head the ASB program, and were impressed by the idea the class came up with on their own. “They wanted to have a snowball fight, but we obviously can’t have snowballs thrown– so they decided we would have them ‘throw’ paper snowballs instead,” said Estrada.
Principal Anthony Taranto instigated a personal competition with the Assistant Principal Lindsey Gotanda—betting her that whoever gets the most snowballs between the two has to buy the other lunch.
“You can support me by buying snowballs for Gotanda,” said Taranto while in the ASB classroom. “Who dress codes you, Gotanda or me? She does! If you’re going to snowball somebody– just think about it.”
Allison Pitman forcefully snowballed one of her teacher’s doors shortly before class by taping a white paper snowball with her name on it onto the door.
“She gave me a persuasive essay due today about who would be good to put on a stamp,” said 7th grader Pitman.
“It’s friendly fun,” said Ryan Bender. “It’s fun to get a teacher you don’t like.”
Elias Quirez added two snowballs–one on Taranto and one on Gotanda’s door—because he heard about their competition and likes all of his teachers.
Throughout the afternoon more and more snowballs piled up outside the classroom doors, and the snow flurries aren’t expected to let up until Monday.
