Service to others

Continuing a trend of students supporting causes at Jay County High School basketball games, the National Honor Society will be holding an “Honor Our Soldiers” event at Friday’s boys basketball game and collecting donations for soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
The honor society is asking attendees of Friday’s game against Bellmont to wear camouflage and donate items to help support U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan — including former JCHS principal Maj. Jeremy Gulley, who is deployed with the Indiana National Guard 3-19th Agribusiness Development Team.
Friday’s event continues what is becoming a tradition this school year of students not only supporting the basketball team, but also community and other local causes.
“We kind of knew we wanted to do something local,” NHS secretary Ashley Caupp said earlier this week.
“We talked about sending it to troops overseas, then we remembered we had Mr. Gulley as a principal (who is) over in Afghanistan,” said NHS treasurer Kim Braun.
Honor society faculty sponsor Chrissy Krieg said the group contacted Gulley asking for a list of items the soldiers would like to receive from back home. Gulley returned a list of the five most wanted things, as well as asking for supplies to aid the agricultural education project he and fellow troops are working on in Khowst Province.
“He asked … for us to also send school supplies because they are actually working with schools over there,” Krieg said.
The Honor Our Soldiers night is another event to add to this year’s list of service projects taken on by JCHS students at home basketball games.
In December at a game against Muncie Central, students came out in force with pink clothing and signs to honor and remember Leta Haffner, the mother of a JCHS junior who had recently died of breast cancer. And this month, students again donned pink to help raise awareness and money for breast cancer.
JCHS principal Phil Ford said he’s been proud of the student support for causes this year during basketball games and hopes the tradition will carry on to future years.
“This is probably one of the most unusual student groups we’ve have in a number of years and I mean that in the most positive manner,” Ford said. “Every home game seems to be a different theme and some of that has been extended to other particular causes — the Pink-out night that we had then this national honor society night.
“I’m really proud of our young people and the way they’ve enjoyed the game,” he said. “They’ve used it as a vehicle to help raise money for other people, other groups. … We hope that they’re establishing a tradition that will carry on year after year after year.”
The NHS officers have worked to put together the event, including coming into school on Monday despite the Presidents Day holiday.
“We actually went into school on Monday and got the boxes ready and made posters and typed in,” said society president Leah Wellman.
“We worked with Mrs. Krieg a lot during school,” vice president Logan Laux said of the group’s preparation. “It was just outside of school and during school.”
Krieg lauded the effort that the NHS officers have put into organizing the event.
“These girls are incredible,” she said. “Once we decided this was the project we wanted to take on, they’ve done so much work. … They really represent what National Honor Society is about.”
The group hasn’t set a specific goal for how many donations they hope to collect or how much money they’d like to raise and say they will be happy with whatever the public can offer.
“We’re hoping for a lot,” Wellman said. “I guess just because they do so much for us and we can never really thank them personally, just by sending them something, I feel that’s a way we can help them.”
“We haven’t set an amount or anything,” Laux said. “We’re just hoping for the best.”[[In-content Ad]]