by Bridget Cook ’14

SGA officers Nicole Jakobowski and Jess Beattie count cans from Mrs. Gonzales's winning class

Recently, the SGA canned food drive concluded and totals were tallied for each class. For weeks, students brought cans to their first period classes hoping to earn the free breakfast awarded to the class who collected the most. The drive was a success and had much participation, but some wonder: would there still have been hundreds of cans donated if there was no prize involved?

Along with the school wide contest, some classes held their own competitions against another specific class, allowing students to compete against their friends to win a prize and bragging rights. But even though the multiple competitions happening in the school caused more cans to be donated, I can’t help but wonder if in our competitive frenzy we’ve drifted away from the actual meaning of the drive: to feed the hungry. Through the whole thing, I heard participants talking only about what they might get if they win and who they were beating. Not once did I notice any comment or enthusiasm about the targeted incentive of helping the needy.

The drive was a nice and well-intentioned idea that did help out the people in need, but sadly I believe that some of the participants did not recognize or appreciate the true reward that came out of it: helping the hungry.