Junior class garage sale raises money for charity
Members of the 11th grade class hosted the annual Junior Class Garage Sale on Saturday, February 29. After a 4:15 a.m. wakeup, classmates grabbed donuts and coffee to fight the morning blues. Customers lined up at the door for the 5:00 opening as students lined up to man their stations for the day.
The garage sale efforts were overseen by Colonel William Merrell and Ms. Sharon Box as a part of the Global Leadership Institute, with student leaders Kayleigh Canoy and Hunter Yelverton in charge of directing the student efforts.
After the recent Pearl River flooding began to creep up onto the campus, students rushed to barricade the storage units with sandbags. Thankfully, the waters stopped short of damaging any garage sale goods, although the area around the containers was largely underwater. As the date of the sale approached, students worked for weeks to sort donations and bring items into the manning center.
Students managed everything from carrying out furniture to helping customers find things they were looking for to running the cash register for the event. Proceeds normally go to pay for the juniors’ prom and graduation night, although this year’s prom has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Despite the long hours, the garage sale was a way to get students working together and taking ownership of the project. 62 juniors were a part of the leadership staff, and nearly all of the grade participated with hours of sorting, lifting, and running the sale day. Col. Merrell sees the project as a great way for the students to learn leadership qualities. “Getting information out and getting “buy in” or action from peers is a challenge. They learned to refine the process, explain the new process and follow up with peers”
Through the combined student efforts, the day went off well, with the proceeds including a $3,000 donation to local charity Joni & Friends. In spite of the long hours, students had fun working together to accomplish such a huge task. “I was pleasantly surprised that our grade was as productive as it was and that we were successful at bringing, organizing, and selling everything. It was really fun despite all the lifting heavy boxes, and I felt like it brought our grade together,” says junior Emma Liddell.
