Hershey

This past month we participated in National Grief Awareness Day. Our school has recently gone through two very difficult losses and this day was greatly needed. We lost a student on the night of trick-or-treat after he was hit by a car. He survived a week in Hershey Med trauma center and later succumed to his injuries. Approximately a week later we lost a very beloved teacher to a long battle with cancer. She was still working at the school at the time that it happened. She became ill over the weekend and within a few days finally lost her battle. This day was taken to remember not only the ones that we'd lost in the school, but also the people we've all lost in our personal lives. To show our memories for  these people we created a giant mural that takes up three walls in our cafeteria. We had each student in their first block class write on a blue paper butterfly (the symbol of hope). They wrote the name of some one they've lost and a message to that person. Then we as the Key Club officers put together the giant mural. It pictures a butterfly (made out of the paper butterflies), and the words CCHS Cares, also written in the butterflies. The other large wall pictures the butterfilies fliting around. It is truely a sight to see. Later that night we hosted a Turkey Bowling competition to raise money for the Highmark Caring Place, an organization that provides free grief councelling to children and thier families. At this event teams of 3-4 students threw frozen turkeys down make-shift lanes to knock down bowling pins. Each team paid $5 per teammate. During this event we raised a total of $250 for the Caring Place. This amount was matched dollar for dollar by Highmark Health Insurance, making a total donation of $500 to help fund this great organization. The entire day was a spectacular representation of humanity  at it's finest and how we all share a common bond in grief of some sort.