Central School’s Student Council Focuses on Giving Back

Dollar by dollar, the students at are working to make a difference.

The school’s Student Council is holding a Shamrock Sale for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this month, giving up at least a day of recess to sell paper shamrocks to their classmates. 

“Everyone’s anxious to volunteer,” said Robin Engler, one of the teachers who advises the Student Council.

The Student Council at Central School is made up of two representatives from each homeroom in the fourth and fifth grades. Engler and Marcia Peters have both been serving as advisers to the council for a few years now, and said the students meet once or twice a month to discuss their upcoming projects. 

At a meeting at the beginning of March, the council filled the school’s art room to talk about the month’s Shamrock Sale and spirit week, when students dress up in silly costumes. For the latter, students called out possible themes for the days, like pajama day and dress like a teacher day, while Peters wrote the list on the board. Afterward, the students voted on their favorites, and Engler had them write down the winning days to report back to their homerooms. 

Once that was done, the students settled in to talk about the sale. The students are no strangers to projects like this. Central School’s website is a testament to the students’ giving spirits, highlighting the council’s Shamrock sale, its can tab collection drive for the Ronald McDonald House and the sock drive that the students held in December. 

The Shamrock Sale began last Monday, and by the beginning of lunch on Wednesday, Central School’s halls were already filling up with shamrocks. Engler joined two of the students on council for the first lunch period, standing with them behind an empty table with just a money box and some stacks of shamrocks. 

As soon as lunch began, that table wasn’t so empty. 

Holding handfuls of bills and spare change, the students purchased shamrocks for a dollar each, writing their names and homerooms in the blank space on the front. After the first two days of this year’s sale, Engler said the students had already sold more than 400 shamrocks. 

Check back at the end of this week to see how much money the students raised overall.