Add Starkville middle-schoolers to the growing list of populations working to relieve the pain of tornado victims.
Students at Armstrong Middle School are holding a supply drive from now until the end of the school year to benefit East Webster schools devastated in last week”s historic storms.
“It”s like they”ve gone back to the real old school, with chalk and chalkboards,” said Kim Wilkinson, an interventionist for Starkville schools and the mother of an East Webster High School student.
Ginger Tedder, a seventh grade teacher and Armstrong”s student council sponsor, went to the students with the idea of doing a supply drive to help Webster County students, then talked to EWHS”s principal to find out what they need.
The list includes the basics, loose-leaf paper, pencils, notebooks, calculators, etc. But Armstrong is also gathering everyday items such as toilet paper and baby supplies. Wilkinson will deliver the goods just as fast as they come in when she drives home each night.
The community is welcome to drop off supplies at AMS”s office, but the students have taken it upon themselves to aid their peers.
“It”s really sad to watch one of our fellow schools, where we know people and who we play in sports, struggle without the things we take for granted,” said Will Irvin, an eighth grader and president of the student council.
Jasmine Carter, an eighth grader and a student council representative, said it”s incumbent upon the student leaders to rally their fellow students to contribute to the cause.
“We”re truly blessed that we”re not going through what they are, because it could have just as easily been us. If you put it to (students) to where it was them, I think they would really think about it and respond,” she said.
“You have to show them how bad it was,” added Irvin.
Student-led support efforts are popping up at schools across North Mississippi. April Dill, a science teacher at AMS whose husband coaches softball at Vardaman High School, said the Vardaman softball team recently raised $1,000 worth of donations to split between victims in Monroe and Webster Counties.
A full list of requested supplies is available at the AMS office. The supply drive will run through May 25.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
