the
Spectrum
The Blake School v 511 Kenwood Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN 55403 v Issue 3 v December 7, 2011 v blakespectrum.org v your voice in print
Homerooms help homeless
STUDENT LIFE
What the homeroom gift drive is all about In annual drive, homerooms donate mon- The gift drive in action: One student ey and gifts in efforts to alleviate home- reflects on her four-year tradition less families’ stress this holiday season Bailey Dunning Editor In-Chief
W
ith winter break less than two weeks away, it’s hard to focus on anything but the stress of midterms and the anticipation of near-freedom. But, today, put your stress in perspective because each homeroom will be wrapping presents for the annual holiday gift drive. These gifts will be going towards families battling homelessness; our gesture is meant as means to relieve these families of the economic stresses the holiday season provokes. Over ten years ago, Janet Williams organized gift drive; she corresponded with ELIM Transitional Housing, a Minneapolis-based transitional housing program, offering affordable housing opportunities to people currently experiencing homelessness. To fully understand the issue, it’s important to look beyond the stereotypes associated with homelessness. The only thing that homeless means is that person cannot currently af-
70%
of homeless women have children under 18
ford a home; it’s an unfortunate, yet temporary, situation for the majority of these families. According to Williams, Blake began this project, “not with the intention to end homelessness, but to reduce the burden by providing families with holiday gifts.” The reason why this project is so special is that each homeroom is assigned a specific person to buy gifts for. Not only does this present an opportunity to bond with your homeroom, but also presents the opportunity to learn about homelessness in America. Most importantly, we all have the chance to make the holidays a remarkable experience for kids who wouldn’t receive many gifts this time of year. Williams remarks that a few years back, one mother wrote to thank us, on account of how excited her daughter was with the presents. This provoked tears of happiness from the mother just because her daughter would have holiday gifts. So, while wrapping presents today, remember that you’re making more of an impact than you might think.
Families with children constitute about 40% of people who become homeless
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S
ometimes I think I am the only one who gets excited about the homeroom adopt-afamily tradition. I’m not saying this to criticize anyone else, it’s just that in the past, I hear more students grumbling about doing something good for another person than this activity deserves. This is because, over the last four years, my homeroom has developed a sort of tradition surrounding the event. Everyone brings in however much money they want to (though, we do pick a suggested amount, so that no one brings far more or far less in than anyone else) and Anna Dworsky ’12 and I would head over to Target for the presents after a delicious treat at Burger Jones. This year, however, our homeroom was especially excited—we were assigned a sevenyear-old boy. It is a great feeling to help anyone in need, but there is something special about knowing that your homeroom can make the holidays happy for a young child. In the past, there have always been a few homeroomies who rally while the others drag
their feet, but this year was different. Everyone got involved. The boy needed shoes, so Jack DeVries ‘12 suggested we make them a real present and get him Jordans. Hudson Van Slooten ’12 brought in board games from home. For once, we all had our money in on time. The three years before had just been practice—this was our year to really make someone’s Christmas. Unfortunately, buying the Jordans fell through. Instead, Anna and I made our final preshopping stop at Burger Jones then took the money to Target and spent all of it on a Bop It, a light-up art kid, a pair of winter boots, tennis shoes, and a gift card. What’s special to me about this gift-giving tradition and this year in particular is that my homeroom does it for all the right reasons. We’re not trying to win some competition of buying the most presents, getting the most expensive gift, or getting him the coolest gift—we just want to make a 7-year-old boy happy. That’s what this activity should be about, that’s what the holiday season should be about, and that’s what I hope everyone at school can see.
OPINIONS
OWS: the pros and the cons
OCCUPY STAND BY
PAGE 6
IN-DEPTH BULLYING at Blake and beyond.
(Left: Senator Al Franken speaks at Blake.)
PAGES 8-9
SPORTS Girls’ tennis, soccer and cross country runner, Clare Flanagan ‘14 rack up the challenge cup points at this year’s STATE TOURNAMENT.
PAGE 16 photo courtesy of: Tracy Grimm