HOLDEN — Newly inducted members of Wachusett Regional High School’s National Honor Society showed that a little can be important.
Science teacher Cindy Sparks, who spoke at the ceremony, had a challenge for the 133 students.
“With anonymous donations, I gave every student a small amount of money and asked them to give it away, to someone in need or an organization,” Sparks said.
“After the usual congratulating students, acknowledging the other teachers, and such, I shared why I teach at Wachusett, the power of education, and how their hard work, especially through the COVID pandemic, has made them learn perseverance and compassion,” Sparks said.
Then the inductees were given the opportunity to take $5 and make an impact.
That night she told them:
“All my students will not be surprised as I now inform you that I am giving you an assignment tonight. For your new assignment, I’ve taken a page out of the playbook of a billionaire named Rob Hale. Rob Hale was the commencement speaker at UMass Boston’s graduation last year, and (is) a well-known philanthropist. He gave every graduate money — a lot of money — and then challenged them to go out and give it away. I’m not a billionaire, but I can do something like this on a smaller scale.”
Although $5 may not change the world, the students chose carefully where the money should go to have a positive impact. And not all limited themselves to the $5, putting in additional money for the causes they supported.
“Most did a great job choosing where to give, from what I have heard in the report,” Sparks said. “I gave some suggestions for donations; they had some even better ideas.”
She noted Ethan Case, a junior inductee, who reported: “I decided to turn to social media to make this $5 into a lot more.”
Ethan’s mother posted about his plan, and many followers matched his $5.
“So far I have raised $400. My plan is already in the works. Today, I went out and spent $123 out of the total $400 on: women’s clothes, men’s clothes, baby clothes, and toiletries for everyone. My plan is to donate all of these ideas to Veterans Inc., which supports current serving members and their families. Also, part of the money is going to be donated via a Target gift card to the guidance office to be able to keep up with the demand of certain products picked up by students in the school.”
“It has been really wonderful to see how thoughtful the students are,” Sparks said.
“The parents, the school, and the Wachusett community can be proud. I look at what the WRHS students have done, and I see strong, compassionate future leaders,” Sparks said. “It wasn’t about the dollar amount really, but more about so many small acts of kindness spread throughout the entire community.”
Examples of those who added to the $5:
“I donated my money and $15 more to FamilieSCN2A, which is a nonprofit my dad helped found and I volunteer for that is looking for a cure for a specific type of autism and epilepsy.”
“I took the $5 and added some of my own money to it as well and bought people their meal at a restaurant.”
“At work we do an annual fundraiser to raise money for several food banks during this time of year. We call it the Turkey Basket Drive because with all the money that gets collected, we buy and assemble Thanksgiving Baskets that we give to several charities across the state. $40 makes one of those baskets, so I used the money I received from the induction ceremony plus some of my own money to donate enough to fund another turkey basket. It feels good to know that my donation will go towards feeding a family during this Thanksgiving season. Can’t wait to put these baskets together on Sunday.”
“I donated the money given to me (plus a little extra) to First Responder Therapy Dogs Inc. because a.) I love animals and wanted to support a foundation based off of animals; and b.) one of my previous teachers has a dog involved in this group, so I wanted to support her as well.”
“I donated $10 to the Why Me Sherry’s House food drive that was happening at our school. Why Me helps families who have kids that are going through chemo, and my money will help provide food for them.”
Among the many others benefiting from donations were: The Alzheimer’s Association; Salvation Army; Paxton Center School giving tree; Save the Animals Club in Wachusett; NEADS, buying a new toy for the dogs in the training facility; Make a Wish Foundation; Wachusett StuCo feathers for food (turkey booth); Leo’s Club; as well as churches and mosques.
