Students get on board with helping those in need

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — K-12 students on bus No. 42, which includes the Greeley’s Landing Road and Park Street areas, recently competed to see which of three age groups could bring in the most items for the Living Word Community Food Cupboard. In addition to learning about helping those in need, the pupils who collected the greatest amount of non-perishables earned the right to sit in the back of the bus on Nov. 20.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    BOX SEATING — SeDoMoCha Elementary and Middle School and Foxcroft Academy students on bus No. 42 competed to see which of three age groups could bring in the most non-perishable food items. The elementary students ended up with the most-filled box, with the middle-schoolers a close second, and as a result the youngsters were able to ride in the back of the bus to and from school on Nov. 20 with the high school pupils switching to the front seats. Pictured are SeDoMoCha Elementary and Middle School competition participants, starting from front, second from left, Nathan Durgin, Kaylee Durgin, Scott Greene, Brittney Racilla, Carter Merrill, Anthony Harmon, Cody Chambers, Kaitlin Cookson, Grace Greene, Kassyde Davis, Adam Davis, Joleen Morales and Autumn Hosley. Back, Rowell’s Garage Transportation Director and bus No. 42 driver Jenny Chase, Brandon Cookson, Steven Mozsgae, Ryan Vienneau, Daisy Foster, Cassandra Crockett and Hillary Redmond. Not pictured, Deegan Lewis.

    Rowell’s Garage Transportation Director Jenny Chase said she had the idea of having the students on her bus route collect food items. “I put it to them and said ‘hey I have an idea’ and the little kids got real excited about it,” she said. Chase said the food collecting began on Monday, Nov. 10 and lasted for the next week-plus.
    “I divided it into three boxes,” she said, with one for SeDoMoCha Elementary students, another for those attending SeDoMoCha Middle School and the third for Foxcroft Academy pupils. “We had a lot of discussion about what to bring,” she said, as some of the younger students thought of putting candy in the boxes.
    “The whole idea is to bring in things we can make meals with,” Chase said as students learned about healthy food choices. “We kept track of it every day, we had a score sheet,” she said. “We would add cans to the total, so they had a little math lesson.”
    When the food collecting contest ended, the elementary students finished with the greatest number of items to be donated to the food cupboard. “Middle school, even though they lost, put in a good effort,” Chase said.
    On Thursday, Nov. 20 the youngest students earned the right to ride in the back of the bus both on the way to and home from school. The middle-schoolers sat in the center of the bus and the grade 9-12 pupils were seated up front in a change from their normal ride to school.
    “They were quite excited this morning to walk past the older kids on the way back,” Chase said about the victorious elementary students. She joked that the youngsters were bragging and rubbing it in as they got onboard the school bus before taking their first-place seats.