On Sunday, December 7, Student Commission and Red Cross hosted the second annual Holiday Project, an event in which low-income families from around the neighborhood of Polytechnic High School are invited to participate in.
Members of Student Commission, Red Cross, staff, and student volunteers from clubs volunteered to encourage children and families to participate in the various holiday-oriented stations spread out across the quad area of campus: cookie decorating, face painting, card making, and arts & crafts, and a photo-op with Santa.
In addition to the five stations at the event, children indulged in the many live entertainment shows that were offered at the event: ROTC’s Dark Knights rifle spinning and Unarmed drills, an informative puppet show from Red Cross regarding disaster preparedness, a musical duo featuring new teachers Daryl Holmlund and Matt Knapil, holiday renditions from Jazz Combo 2 featuring Knapil, and carols from Jazz Vocal 1.
“It’s heartwarming to see lots of little children experience the Holiday spirit-something that I did not experience myself,” said Mr. Gonzalez, a father pleased to see his son with his unopened gift.
One of the main attractions of this event was the jumper, which is the newest addition to the Holiday Project this year. “I have connections with party rentals, and I talked to the person I know that rents jumpers. I told him that we were doing a non-profit event for low-income families, and he gave us a discount,” said Victoria Cruz, Commissioner of Service Projects.
“This year, we got approximately 450 toys. Our goal was 300 toys, and I was very happy about the turnout. I was very nervous because on Tuesday, we only had about 60 toys. Luckily, teachers pitched in by offering extra credit to students as incentive for donating a toy,” said Cruz.
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