The holiday season is officially upon us, and with Thanksgiving coming up shortly there is plenty of excitement in the air. Thankfully, there are many activities for members of the Hereford community to get involved in for themselves and to give back to others… or are there?
For me, the holiday seasons are a time to hang out with my family and friends, and a big part of that consists of events that are set up around the community for us to be involved in. Unfortunately, our school doesn’t host many events like that.
Most importantly, I feel that around the holidays with the themes of giving back, especially Thanksgiving, that there should be an event set up to help around the community.
“I think there could definitely be more support on helping others because thanksgiving is about giving thanks and being grateful,” President of the Freshman class, Sophia Rudolph (’21) said. “Sending out the message that kids should be grateful for what they have already, and then trying to give back to others would be great.”
Even something as simple as a canned food drive or a gift collection would be a simple way to give back.
Hereford does have clubs that host events similar to these, which is a great start to eventually connecting with the entire school with them.
“In One Love, we pick families from the House of Ruth and use the profits from our flower sales to buy those less fortunate famines toys around the holidays, but its more club oriented instead of school oriented,” Lindsay Posner (’20) said. “So I think we should do more with the whole school instead of little sections.”
Hereford could easily use opportunities like these to involve the entire school so that the profit is even greater.
The student council sees that and is currently planning a way for this to happen. “One big think I’d really like to do this year is a county-wide canned food competition,” Emma Wallner (’19), student council president, said. “This has been in the works among the student council presidents from Patapsco to Catonsville to Perry hall. If Hereford got involved and started collecting, not only would we probably win (because were the best), we’d also make a big impact for hungry families around the holidays.”
Even events that are fun for our school to be involved in, such as football games where the money made could become a charity profit, or as simple as spirit days here and there. “I think it would show more spirit and get people more involved and excited about high school,” Derek Wu (’20), Vice President of the junior class, said. “Football games and spirit days bring a lot more energy into the school.”
I understand that holiday events are difficult to get approved through administration. “It’s not easy, you have to get a lot of approval from administration and go up the chain,” Wu said. “But definitely a football game or a [spirit] day is easier to get approved.”
Overall, Hereford does an amazing job of providing the students and administration with what is needed, but a few more holiday events wouldn’t hurt to lighten the atmosphere around days where joy is important.