By Staff
Echo
Grand Blanc HS
1st Place Division 1, Yearbook Verbal
Headline Writing
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Clever/imaginative, engaging the reader
- Draws reader into copy
- Contents of headline establishes visual/verbal connection between photos and copy
- Headline/secondary makes spread content clear
- Adheres to rules of good journalism including: avoiding label headlines, freedom from editorial comment, careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors, correct use of grammar
W
hile it may have been a warmer day in winter, it came on the heels of a week of sub-zero temperatures, and the ice on Lake Fenton created a chill, as students and teachers took the plunge. With a total of $12,432 for Special Olympics, the plunge raised the most money for the program for the third year in a row.
“Fundraisers with great purpose are very important,” Knapp said. “Not only to raise money but also awareness. It is so easy to forget how fortunate we are. Giving back through fundraisers like this, whether through action or money, is a way to recognize this and make our world better. The ‘Inclusion Revolution’ is upon us.”
A dare unlike any other brought to three wrestlers, who stuck together through the icy cold waters. While freshman Arthur Herrera dove straight in, junior Amier Hatcher hesitated before leaping in.
“First walking up to it I thought, ‘This is crazy, what am I doing here? I should be sleeping in on a Saturday morning,’” Hatcher said. “It got me to do something I’ve never done before. It got me out of the house to experience something fun.”
An additional layer of fun came with the art of dressing up. Herrera took on the risk of frostbite as he wore his wrestling unitard.
“I was nervous at first to jump,” Herrera said. “It was really cold in our singlets. The overall experience was really fun and it was a great opportunity to do with Amier and Jackson.”
Drive Chair, senior Taras-Michael Butrie and Co-chair junior Grace Drass took on one new thing: a fall blood drive.
“We wanted to create more opportunities for staff and students to donate,” Butrie said. “Because of the ongoing blood shortage.”
In four short hours, compared to the six that the winter blood drive had traditionally been, around 50 students and staff signed up to donate.
Butrie and Drass worked for a month prior with NHS advisers Mrs. Kathleen Riek and Mrs. Rachel Kenney to put everything together.
“We had to make Google Doc forms, and volunteer sign-up sheets,” Drass said. “At orientation, we were trying to get people to sign up to donate.”
Junior Analise Macksood not only volunteered as a runner, taking people to and from class, but also decided to donate.
“The phlebotomist that took my blood was very good at keeping me distracted,” Macksood said. “And ensured I had a painless experience.”
Some donors felt fine after a trip to the refreshment and food table, but others had different experiences.
“An hour after, I wasn’t feeling too great,” Macksood said. “But overall, it was really amazing to do such a small thing and save up to three lives.”
Butrie ran the show, but he avoided the needles.
“I tried [to donate] last year,” Butrie said. “That didn’t go so well. Needless to say, that wasn’t a very glorious moment that occured. I think I will [donate] later on, but with trying to make sure everything goes well, I don’t donate at the NHS blood drives.
With the FISH food and gift drive for families down on their luck, GB geared up to give back to the community and ensure that others got the satisfaction of waking up Christmas morning with gifts under the tree.
“There were a couple instances growing up when my dad had to have a major surgery,” Mrs. McNair-Levi said. “We were on the receiving end of what wasn’t called FISH families in Saginaw. It was a different organization. I didn’t know that when I was little, I just knew that I still had stuff under my tree.”
Wanting to help out children in the same position that she once was, McNair-Levi saw FISH as a simple solution to give back, in a big way.
“I have 150 kids. Out of 150 kids, even if each kid only brought one dollar, or a can of food, or a stupid little barbie, that would fill the trees, and it really did help.” she said.
In fact, students in more than 15 classes played a role in the annual FISH drive, some raising money and even going out to shop together.
“We raised a bunch of money in class,” junior Jenavieve Nylander said. “Every day we would go in and ask for money, then we took all of it to Walmart and got a bunch of stuff. We raised $237 just in [Mrs. Butzu’s] first hour.”
Mrs. McNair-Levi and the staff hoped even more students would join in the future to help the cause.
“Somehow [we want] more students involved,” McNair-Levi said. “Getting students to go out and shop, or even do field trips. That way, they have an interest in seeing people succeed that are in our community.”