‘Twas the month of Winter break, and the gift of giving roamed the halls of Forest Hills High School. Various fundraisers were held right before the break, and with a school like Hills with over 3,500 students, it’s pretty easy to get lost and miss an event. Don’t fret — below you will find some student-led events that you may have missed during the holiday season. On Thursday, December 14, the Key Club donated canned food and snacks, which were sent to the City Harvest Organization. City Harvest was founded in 1982 and is the world’s first food rescue organization. The organization collects excess food from restaurants, grocers, bakeries, green markets, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. The food is then delivered to community food programs throughout New York City The club’s members are required to perform twenty hours of service annually, which fulfills necessary requirements for students. “We do a lot of community service, so I think in some years collectively, all the members [have] approximately done over 500 hours of service,” Ms. Flores, the Advisor of the Key club informed us. The Key Club includes an abundance of hard-working students who are dedicated to helping the community. Olija Islam, the club’s Webmaster, enjoys being a member since the group assists people with any needs they may have. If you are interested in helping your community, then Key Club is more than welcome to have you! The STEM club held a bake sale on December 14 to earn money to supplement the Science Department’s funding. At the bake sale, which started at 4:00 p.m., members offered cookies, snacks, and — most importantly — the delicious popcorn we’re always smelling from the lobby. The event “roughly raised more than $200,” according to Frida
Zhu, the Executive Communications Officer of the STEM program, which was outstanding news for the Science department. The club’s event
goals were to show the connections that exist between science students and the many STEM career paths. Next up, we had a candy cane fundraiser run by the Girl Up Club from December 19 to December 21. This club centers around the United Nations “Girl
Up” movement to prevent all forms of gender-based violence, by providing education from experts around the globe. Anyone who donated a minimum of $1 received a candy cane as a “thank you.” The purpose of the fundraiser, according to the Girl Up club co-president, Vienna Zhao was to raise money for the Girl Up movement to “tackle gender-based violence and provide girls with an education in various parts of
the world.” The fundraiser was able to successfully raise an impressive amount of $400 in three days. “The best part of participating in this event has been talking to the teachers and creating friends,” Vienna explained. If you are interested in fundraising or having the opportunity
to learn about world issues and how to take action, consider joining the Forest Hills Girl Up club!