Education wins in rivalry contest for Pencils of Promise
Rivals on the floor but teammates off of it, Garaway and Hiland student council members rejoiced together on Friday, Jan. 31 when the two schools raised close to $5,000 for Pencils of Promise, a national organization that builds schools for children in underprivileged world nations.
When Garaway principal Ryan Taggart came up with the idea of creating a fundraising contest with neighboring Hiland High School for Pencils of Promise, he was hoping they might join together to raise $1,500 for an organization designed to build schools and provide educational opportunities in third-world countries.
Never did he imagine the two school districts, headed by their respective student councils, would more than triple that figure.
In front of a large crowd in the Perry Reese, Jr. Community Center on Friday, Jan. 31, Taggart shared that together the schools raised close to $4,700.
“We joined forces to see which school could raise the most money, but the important thing was we united for a great cause,” Taggart said Friday night. “I am thankful and appreciative of the student councils of both schools.”
The two student councils had fun trying to top the other in a spirited fundraising contest for Pencils of Promise, an international organization that helps build schools for children who would otherwise have no means of learning.
According to the Pencils of Promise website, there are currently more than 250 million children in deprived regions in the world who lack basic reading, writing and math skills.
The pitfalls of that lack of education can lead to a lack of health and sanitation, gender inequality, a lack of qualified teachers, economic instability, and poor infrastructure.
Pencils of Promise is working to build schools and train and support teachers who in turn can connect with the children in these deprived regions and provide a quality education that can embolden children to think outside the box and strive to break the chain of poverty in which they are living.
While it was a friendly competition designed to raise funds to help educate children who might never have the opportunity to learn otherwise, there was one challenge between the two schools’ student councils. The losing group would have to sport a T-shirt of the winning school’s team for the basketball game.
The winning school turned out to be Hiland, which raised $2,500 compared to Garaway’s $2,200. It was a close race, and the Garaway students sportingly donned the Hiland shirts for the evening. However, the real winners were kids around the world.
“It is such a blessing to live in the communities we live in,” Taggart said after the presentation. “We live in pretty amazing communities where people want to help others so readily. To raise the kind of money we did in such a short time is a real testament to the servant attitude that is emphasized and encouraged in our homes, schools and communities.”
Like Garaway, Hiland’s student council did some fundraisers at school, the final one being on game day when one of the teacher’s classes sold coffee, which may well have pushed Hiland over the top. It also had a couple of local businesses donate to the cause, which certainly helped.
“That was really cool,” Hiland guidance counselor Noah Boyd said. “No matter what the outcome was going to be between the two schools, it was going to be a win for everyone. How neat is it that two communities can come together like this in a relatively short period of time and raise almost $5,000. I give so much credit to Ryan and his student council for developing this idea for such a wonderful cause. This was all their idea, and we were so appreciative of them that they would think of us in creating this opportunity. We are very excited to be a part of something that is giving kids around the world a better chance to learn.”
The $4,700 will be added to the $2,300 Garaway has raised to date, putting its total at $7,000. According to Taggart, a school can be built for around $10,000, meaning they are closing in on being able to support a community of children somewhere in the world, giving them a chance to learn and grow with a better education.
“We are excited about that, and we do have some school things coming up that should get us to that number,” Taggart said.
For one night rivalries were put aside as the two schools celebrated something far greater than the final outcome of a basketball game.