By: Ainsley Hall
MARTINSBURG — The Student Leadership group at Martinsburg South Middle School collected and donated money and other items for veterans and presented them to representatives from the VA Medical Center.
Martinsburg South Middle School’s Student Leadership group gives young people the opportunity to learn leadership skills and get involved in their school. Representatives throughout the school join to help with events and make a difference in the community. The group wanted to find a December service project and got together to think of ideas. After voting, they decided to do something to help veterans.
First, they put together a coin war between classes. They challenged each class to raise the most money. Then in the past two weeks, they encouraged their classmates to bring in other donations such as socks, toothbrushes, soaps, and other essentials. Students were able to get extra credit for bringing items to donate. They collect around $300 and many bags full of items.
Cloey O’Shea, Cate Horner, Kelsey Hess, and Sali Amanaka are members of the leadership team. They shared that they first got involved in student leadership because of their friends. It gave them the opportunity to get more involved and make the school their own. They wanted to give back to veterans because they recognized how much they’ve done for them and their country.
“It’s important to give to those who served,” Horner said. “We have no idea where our country would be without them and their sacrifice.”
“We also wanted to support them because many of us know veterans,” O’Shea added. “It went higher than we expected with everything we’ve received. We’re happy with what we were able to accomplish.”
Tuesday morning, the school invited representatives from the VA Medical Center to accept the donations. Principal Mark Barney shared a few words, thanking the students for their hard work.
“They owned this,” Barney said. “They took the time to organize and collect this and decide who they were going to support. It’s very important for young people to support veterans.”
Terry Stotler, chief of voluntary services at the VA Medical Center, thanked the students for their hard work and dedication to giving back to veterans in the community. As a South Middle alumnus, Stotler was happy to see the students getting involved and giving back to veterans in this way.
“I love it when it’s students who do this,” Stotler said. “We have students from different parts of the county who support us.”
The students helped bring the donations to the truck to be brought back to the VA Medical Center. All the donations will go directly to veterans at the hospital.