Students kicked off the season of giving in a big way last month, raising an estimated 1,300 lbs. of non-perishable food in Key Club’s annual drive on behalf of the Salvation Army.
From Nov. 1 to Dec. 2, the club collected more than a thousand food items.  The bulk of the donations came from the science classes, who were engaged in a bit of healthy competition.
Science Teacher Jessica Wilson’s sixth-period CP Chemistry class took the win this year, collecting a total of 541 cans.
“It was exciting because the students were really competitive for this project,” Wilson said. “They were strategizing on how many food items they needed to bring in to beat the other classes. One student was even using this project as a way of learning how to budget and get the most product out of what money she had.”
One of Wilson’s students, Hailey Farmer, contributed to many of the food items that ultimately won her class the prize.
“My friends Vincent, Mia, Amalie, and I brought in around 400 items,” Farmer said. “We had the money to get these items, so we figured ‘why not?’ The incentive of hot chocolate and donuts also encouraged us to bring in the food.”
After the club took the cans to the Salvation Army, they were told the impressive size of this year’s haul, which eclipsed previous years’ collections.
Key Club President Amanda Ngo noted how pleased she was with the food drive turnout this school year.
“I was very proud of the students at Burroughs and thrilled to see the Salvation Army’s reaction to the grand amount of food collected,” Ngo said. “I’m excited to see the Key Club food drive continue to do well in future years to come.”