Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A.D. JOHNSTON High School juniors Luke Zielinski, left, Blayne Pellinen and Ben Bogaczyk, build a sphinx structure out of cans, Tuesday in Bessemer.
By TOM STANKARD
Bessemer - To give back to the community, A.D. Johnston High School students participated in a can drive and built can structures Tuesday morning.
For three weeks, principal Dan VanderVelden said first period students collected cans for a can drive organized by the high school Key Club.
At the end of the three-week period, Barbara Waara, Key Club supervisor and English teacher, said her first period class of 24 students collected 409 cans to win.
As a result, her class will eat a pancake and sausage breakfast provided and cooked by Key Club members.
Waara said the second place team will get doughnuts and the third place team will receive granola bars and juice.
She said the high school's first period classes collectively met their goal and gathered more than 1,000 cans.
Caitlyn Pelissero, Key Club president, said all the cans will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul in Bessemer.
"It makes me feel good knowing no one's going to be out on the streets, hungry on Thanksgiving," she said smiling.
On Tuesday morning, several first period teams participated in can structure competition inside the multi-purpose room.
Waara said teams had one hour to build their structures using an even amount of cans per team.
During that time period, team members helped each other build structures as high and creative as possible.
Sitting in a group, a team of high school juniors said they were building an Eiffel Tower, in mourning of the Paris terrorist attacks, and another team of juniors was constructing a sphinx.
When time was up, Waara said the teams had their pictures taken with their structures and then the photos will be uploaded to Facebook. The team photo that earns the most "likes" will win, Waara said.
Pelissero said the Key Club is a service project organization that "does different things for the community."
In the past, the Key Club made blankets for Domestic Violence Escape, hosted a blood drive and helped out with the annual Kids games during Bessemer's Fourth of July celebration.
Watching students work together for a good cause, VanderVelden said community service is an important part of their lives.
"Community service is something kids can learn," he said. "It's good for their college applications and their self-esteem."
