JHS students praised for 'great effort' during peanut butter drive

Posted

Johnston High School may not have won the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s peanut butter drive this year, but organizers are already working on a game plan for next time.

The drive ran from March through April, with the RIIL encouraging donations for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Counselor Lauren Fagundes and class of 2020 advisers Nadia Cricco and Vinny Verardo led the charge for the Panthers, who had taken home the crown a couple years ago.

“I do think it was a great effort on the part of the school,” Fagundes told the Sun Rise last week. “I do think in the future, especially if I’m part of it again, I would like to get some more coaches involved and more Student Council members and just some of the other athletes, because it is an Interscholastic League-driven initiative, but it was a fun experience.”

Fagundes became involved for this first time this year after going to a leadership conference with a few players from the girls’ soccer team, of which she is the head coach.

While some schools across the state raised more, Fagundes said Johnston turned in just under 3,350 ounces of peanut butter by her last count. She did note, though, that there was a last-minute fundraiser from the baseball team that had not been added yet.

While she said that there is “a lot to work on” to improve for next year, she was pleased to be able to work with the students for a good cause.

“It was just great to work with the school, try to get some other kids involved,” Fagundes said. “We did try to do a 3-point shootout at one of the unified basketball games … It’s bigger than just the high school here, or a particular grade or club or sport. It’s good to have them all involved.”

Fagundes referenced the March dress-down day — which featured student-athletes from more than 10 sports and raised more than 2,000 ounces of peanut butter — as a particularly bright spot of the weeks-long push.

Verardo, who told the Sun Rise back in March that he is “very competitive,” is ready to get back at it already. He said that the drive could have been promoted better, and he would like to see more homerooms get involved in the competition between one another.

“My homeroom is engaged, but it would have been like shooting myself in the foot if I started to engage other homerooms, too,” Verardo said last week. “So there were some homerooms that were really into it, and some just didn’t really know.”

Verardo said Jill Royer’s homeroom edged out his group for top marks, with Cricco’s room coming in third place. Verardo joked that, since he helped run the collection, he wanted to avoid controversy with the peanut butter stored in his room.

“We did the collection, too, so the peanut butter kept ending up in the room, and I said, ‘No, I don't want to count that toward my homeroom,’” Verardo said. “I was trying to play it fair, because if we counted that, I would have won hands down, but that’s not from the homeroom. So I said, ‘Nope, I don’t want any scandal.’”

Both Fagundes and Verardo were proud of the school’s efforts, and they agreed that getting students involved in the community was the most important aspect of the drive.

“I think it’s really important to get the kids on board, because even if we lose, at least they’re learning something about giving and something about the idea of charity and to get them engaged, and given it’s a competition,” Verardo said. “So they’re doing it as a competitive edge, but still it’s showing them that they're picking it, they’re getting on board with it.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here