THE
PROSPECTOR
801 WEST KENSINGTON ROAD, MOUNT PROSPECT, ILLINOIS 60056
THE VOICE OF PROSPECT HIGH SCHOOL SINCE 1959
VOLUME 64, ISSUE 3
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2024
Season of service, sacrifice
PETER RADOSH Associate Editor-in-Chief
T
hroughout the last month, Prospect’s Associated Student Body (ASB), a student-run leadership organization that helps organize and advertise events at Prospect, has been campaigning to raise money for Folds of Honor, a charity dedicated to providing educational scholarships to families of fallen or disabled veterans and first responders. For junior Lea Biwer, a member of the ASB leadership board, helping raise money for Folds of Honor gave her a sense of security. Her older brother is Master Sgt. Brandon Thompson, a 2011 Prospect Alumnus and a senior non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force. He recently became a father. “There’s always a fear that something could happen,” Biwer said. “It’s obviously a dangerous job, so it’s nice to know there are organizations that will take care of his daughter.” During second quarter, many clubs participate and collaborate on charity projects to help support social services within the community. For instance, Knights’ Way partnered with ASB to kick off the 2024 Folds of Honor fundraiser, while ASB has previously helped Service Club run the campaign for Prospect’s food drive, also known as “You Got Gobbled.” According to ASB co-sponsor Michelle Fonsino, contributing to the lives of others is the central point of ASB’s second quarter theme: Provide. Their four themes are Pride, Provide, Positivity and Praise. ASB partners with a charity during each Provide season, switching organizations biannually. They initially chose Folds of Honor last year because it is centered around Veterans Day. “Everyone seemed to be giving to the community during the holiday season, from November to December,” Fonsino said. “So it seemed like a natural title to give to a season that has already existed, just to show support and give all of our work a collective name and a collective focus.” According to Fonsino, a lot of planning and effort goes into advertising a charity campaign to the student body. ASB used the Nov. 7 Knights’ Way Day to introduce their fundraiser. Knights’
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SERVICE ON TWO FRONTS: (Left) Master Sgt. Brandon Thompson, Class of 2011, and his squad board an AC-130 as a part of a Red Flag exercise where they parachuted and secured a runway. (Right) In preparation for delivery, Service Club members help load a truck with food during “You Got Gobbled,” Prospect’s annual food drive. (photos courtesy of Lea Biwer and Tracy Van Hoy) Way co-sponsor Jay Heilman instructed the stuBiwer was one of those in charge of partnering dent leaders to prompt classes to define service with local restaurants. and sacrifice for themselves. “Me and Sara Conway, who’s also on ASB “We wanted students to think of people that board, we visited every restaurant,” Biwer said. they personally know, maybe it’s a parent, grand“We talked to each manager, and we talked about parent, aunt [or] uncle,” Heilman said. “Then we what [it] would look like if they were to donate wanted to have our leaders push their classes to money to [the campaign].” identify how. If your parent is a nurse, ‘What do Once a restaurant agreed to participate in a you know about what they do that is a sacrifice?’” Dine & Share, 15% of their sales made as a part With 2024 being ASB’s second year workof the fundraiser were donated to Folds of Honing with Folds of Honor, ASB co-sponsor Jenna or. In addition to the major advertising pushes, Sandstead saw the goal of this year’s campaign as ASB also decorated classroom doors, created a improving last year’s strategies to make a greater class donations leaderboard in the hallway and impact — primarily through switching to a comorganized a spirit week from Dec. 2 to Dec. 6 to pletely digital donations system. further the Folds of Honor campaign as a school“It’s streamlined the entire process,” Sandwide event. The campaign finished with an asstead said. “It’s easier sembly on Dec. 6. on really everyone With countless awareness-boosting ideas and involved, teachevents to orchestrate, Biwer attributes organizaers, students tion as the key to the campaign’s success in a limand orgaited timeframe. She and the rest of the leadership nizers, beb o a r d cause no had to one has delegate to count tasks effimoney.” ciently to With achieve the resultt h e i r ing spare goals. time, ASB di“It’s versified their definitely campaigning. made me Throughgrow as a out the last - Jay Heilman, Knights’ Way co-sponsor leader, month, they’ve routinely been [espeon the morning announcements and have posted cially] in communicating with lots of different ads around the school and on social media. people and taking on that responsibility,” Biwer ASB also ran a class contest for second pesaid. “We all, on the leadership board, have taken riod classes, sold “Underground” T-shirts and on our own, and we’ve figured out how to work partnered with multiple local restaurants to run together and collaborate.” “Dine & Share” campaigns, raising awareness For Fonsino, the student aspect of the Folds and incentivizing students to donate to Folds of of Honor campaign was what made it special. A Honor. student-run charity campaign represents the core goal behind ASB’s creation: to provide opportunities for student leaders to work together. “There’s so many students that are capable of so much and have so many good ideas,” Fonsino said. “So we wanted to create something that would give anyone an opportunity to just lead the way.” While ASB primarily organizes and promotes events, including its yearly charity campaign, Service Club focuses solely on helping give back to the community. Service Club has done multiple charity projects this year, including Prospect’s food drive, where they ran a campaign similar to the ASB Folds of Honor campaign. They created advertisements on social media and went door to door promoting the drive. Service Club co-sponsor Tracy Van Hoy be-
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lieves that by creating well-known, accessible charity campaigns, people are more likely to donate. “Anybody that gave us canned food could have easily gone to the Mount Prospect [food pantry] and done that,” Van Hoy said. “But it’s so much easier to put it in a bag and put it out on your porch.” Van Hoy recognizes that giving back to the community is a necessity because it helps create and maintain social safety nets for families in hard times. “Everybody I think that [participated in the food drive] was pretty lucky, nobody was hungry,” Van Hoy said. “But, who knows what’s going to happen in six months? Who knows what’s going to happen in a year? So, it’s nice to have those services.” Van Hoy, Sandstead, Heilman and Fonsino all urge students to try and give back in any way they can, whether through giving resources or time, to not only help support social services but also enjoy the emotional value of charity. “Giving back makes you feel good,” Fonsino said. “It connects you with the community. We are a product of our community, and it’s important to recognize that.” Heilman also echoes the sentiment that community recognition is an important aspect of giving back. “[Charity is] about building good citizenship and being a responsible, contributing member to society,” Heilman said. “We, as humans, we need each other, we rely on each other, we depend on each other, in order to survive [and] maintain our well-being.” Students will have one more opportunity this year to give back to their community through Prospect. On Dec. 11, Service Club will host a blood drive in the Community Room. Blood banks are always in need of donations, and Van Hoy asserts that the blood drive is a unique way students can give back to their community. “This isn’t like donating money, it’s not like donating time,” Van Hoy said. “It’s giving literally a part of yourself to help somebody else survive a catastrophic event. So if anybody is thinking that maybe they want to try it for the first time, I would absolutely encourage them to do so.” The goal of both ASB and Service Club’s charity campaigns is to remind people to step back and remember their wider community. Recognizing the service of veterans and first responders and the need for food banks are just two of the many ways students can support others. “In a busy season getting ready for the holidays, it’s easy to get caught up in just the dayto-day things,” Sandstead said. “If we can have a chance or be prompted to think about ways we can give back, then I think it’s good.”