The sixth-grade students and teachers have warm hearts for cold noses.
Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 13, the sixth grade headed a gratitude project. Through this project, the sixth-grade collected items for the Stephens County Humane Society.
Julie Leippe, a sixth-grade math teacher, said the sixth grade collected more than 500 items to donate to the organization. Last week, Leippe and Marinda Cook, another sixth-grade math teacher, took several sixth-grade students to take those items to the Stephens County Humane Society.
Throughout the collection drive, the items were stored in the math classrooms. All of the items were delivered to the Humane Society on Thursday.
“We all need a little more happiness,” Cook said about the drive for the Humane Society.
This is the second year for the Humane Society drive, which started in the 2022-23 school year. At the time, Principal Christy Glasscock encouraged teachers to find ways to incorporate gratitude projects as a way to teach gratitude to the student body.
Cook said gratitude is often associated with happiness.
The sixth grade chose the Stephens County Humane Society because the organization works hard to find animals a forever home, Cook said.
She said the Humane Society relies heavily on community support to keep its facility running. The success of last year’s gratitude project encouraged the sixth-grade group to do it again this year.
Leippe said there are already plans to donate to the Humane Society again next year.
As far as this year’s gratitude project went, Cook said there were several things the sixth-grade teachers did to get student to participate.
They hung a large poster for the students to sign when they donated to the project. Some students who donated got to tour the Humane Society and play with the animals. All students who donated to the gratitude project will go to Centennial Park over at the Simmons Center at a later date.
