Leadership Team gives back to the community
Posted 11/27/02

Forty students at Milaca High School are giving back to the community by being leaders.

The Leadership Team consists of 10th, 11th and 12th grade students who want to make things better for their school and their community.

The Leadership Team is led by activities director Jerry Westphal, but the students are the ones leading the meetings and making the decisions.

The group, which was founded last year, meets once a week, on a rotating basis, to work on various events theyíve organized.

A recent activity they sponsored, and conducted, was "Reading with the Wolves." The teen leaders spent a Saturday afternoon reading an assortment of books to youngsters at the Milaca High School.

Not only was it a great opportunity for the younger students who showed up, but it was also quite an experience for the teens who read to the children.

One teen leader admitted to Westphal that he actually enjoyed reading to the kids, which was not what he had anticipated that Saturday morning.

The group plans to continue "Reading with the Wolves" on a monthly basis, with the next event taking place Saturday, Dec. 7 from 10 a.m.-11 a.m.

At this particular meeting on Thursday, Nov. 21, Jamie Hubers was running the meeting, with Ginny Hoheisel taking notes.

Another project the students are working on is putting together 50 "goodie" bags for the Milaca Area Food Pantry, to include hygiene products such as razors, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, etc.

Westphal informed the students they could use $200 from a fund of a club thatís no longer in existence.

The students discussed Westphalís information and their original plan, which was to donate $5 each of their own money to obtain the items for the pantry.

After a few ideas were tossed around, the students chose to use their own money and if there was a need for more, they would use some from the funds Westphal had mentioned.

The students felt that since they were providing a community service, it should be with their own money.

Later into the meeting, the group discussed ways in which to obtain the items necessary for the bags.

Would they purchase the items from Wal-Mart or Target? Someone suggested buying the items in bulk from Samís Club to save money.

Agreeing they needed trial-size items to fit in the bag, they decided against buying larger size bottles of shampoos and conditioners on sale.

Then the suggestion to contact manufacturers of the products and ask for donations came into the discussion.

Students mentioned what happened when they did a similar fund raiser with their church and 4-H group and the costs involved.

It was determined that the manufacturers were the place to start.

Leaders then volunteered to take on different tasks, like contacting the manufacturers, calling the pantry, and collecting $5 donations from the group.

Another student said sheíd contact a local dentist to see if they would be able to donate toothbrushes and toothpaste.

The group of teens were working together.

They listened to each otherís ideas to make the project work, they bounced ideas off of each other, and they volunteered to take responsibility for certain tasks.

Seven students volunteered for the last "Reading with the Wolves" event, but Westphal felt more would be needed for December.

Twelve students immediately signed up to spend their Saturday morning reading to younger students.

Others volunteered to work on posters to let younger students know about the "Reading with the Wolves" event.

Yet another project the students discussed was visiting residents of the Elim Home in Milaca.

The group discussed what happened last year when they visited the residents and the problems they encountered making gingerbread houses and ornaments with residents.

"Some started eating them," a student told others who werenít at the Elim Home last year. "What if theyíre diabetic and they shouldnít be eating them," another mentioned.

Several ideas were tossed around, such as playing games with the residents, singing carols and visiting in the rooms with those residents who canít get to the main recreation area.

A student volunteered to contact the Elim Home to confirm a time and date for the students to visit next month.

The hour long meeting flew by, with a continuous stream of ideas, discussions and, eventually, tasks assigned and dates determined for when each item had to be completed.

It was a well-run, productive meeting the Leadership Team held.

So, when the students were informed by Westphal that the meetings arenít mandatory and that some teachers were concerned with weekly meetings being too much, the students were quick to defend their work.

He also reminded the students that if they had school work to get done, they needed to take care of that before attending the Leadership Team meetings.

Members of the Leadership Team voiced their opinion about the need for weekly meetings and asked Westphal if they could speak with high school principal Jeff Drake.

"Certainly," Westphal replied. But he also added that the students needed to make notes about why they feel itís important to them to meet on a weekly basis before bringing their concerns to Drake.

Though itís a new organization, the student leaders are taking responsibility and working on ways to improve the school and the community.

The following are members of the Leadership Team: Aimee Asher, Amanda Beehler, Chandra Berezni, Eric Bergstrom, Kari Beumer, Casey Carlson, Emily Carlson, Paul Carlson, Brian Cronin, Amy DeBoer, Tracy DeVries, Kelly Doty, John Fradette, Kerri Freeman, Boone Hawley, Sadie Hemmerich, Randy Hjort, Clay Hoeck, Ginny Hoheisel, Jamie Hubers, Erik Johnson, Evan Jones, Leah Karels, Simon Kittok, Vincent Kittok, Daren Koppendrayer, Andy Kotsmith, Katie Mickelson, Mike Minks, Jon Moorlag, Tony Moscho, Maggie Mycue, Shawn Nelson, Janelle Packard, Amanda Roehl, Jessi Struffert, Lyz Tesch, Cassie Vedders, Mitch Vedders, Tim Veurink, Ashley Westphal, Lisa Wunderlich, Jenna Zakrajsek, and Jenna Zimmer.