Countless boxes full of non-perishable food items, hundreds of teddy bears, toy cars, soccer balls, and dolls donated, water bottle cut-outs of different colors hung across the cafeteria, decade-themed music played at a school dance, families gathering to participate in the 5K: all this made possible by the senior class of 2012 and the small group of students working on and putting together the Senior Project.
Throughout the year, the seniors, instead of planning infamous and elaborate senior pranks, have organized various events to give back to the school and others. A small group of students, with the help of Mrs. Buck, met Wednesday mornings during the year to decide on the projects and goals they wanted to focus on and put to action. Seniors like Haleigh Danek attended each Senior Project meeting because “I wanted to be as involved as possible and wanted to do a project that made an impact.” Similarly, Lian Collins became involved in the Senior Project in order “to leave my mark on the school and benefit others,” while Kellie Whitworth wanted “to have a say in how we were remembered as a class.”
After brainstorming and taking into consideration countless suggestions, the seniors decided to not only complete a project that would give back to the school and allow the seniors to leave something to be remembered by but also to do something to benefit the community and the world.
The first components of the project to be realized and carried out were the Food Drive and the Toys for Tots collection, both helping the community. The food drive was organized as a competition between second hour classes, and it took place November 14th to the 17th. In the end, Ms. Kallawitz’s second hour Honors Physics class won doughnuts and collected the most items per student, and countless boxes full of canned goods and other non-perishable items were donated just in time for the holiday season. Additionally, from November 1st to December 21st, Prairie Ridge served as a Toys for Tots drop-off location. Hundreds of toys were collected to be distributed to children during the holidays. Both the food drive and Toys for Tots were two projects easy to put together, yet very helpful and meaningful to many individuals.
The seniors chose to positively impact other parts of the world by organizing Project Living Well. From December 5th to the 9th, Prairie Ridge students and faculty were able to purchase paper water bottle cutouts for a dollar in order to donate money towards the construction of wells and the bringing of clean water to people in Latin America. The purchase of a water bottle required the individual to also write down and commit to some act of kindness so that the project was not only benefitting people in Latin America but the Crystal Lake community as well. The freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors were each assigned a color of water bottles, and each class had a designated area in the cafeteria where its water bottles were hung. Ultimately, at the end of the friendly competition, the seniors had bought the most water bottles. Senior Sonya Sindberg enjoyed putting the project together because it was “simple,easy to organize, and unique in its ability to offer someone far away such a basic necessity as water.”
For many students, the most rewarding component of the Senior Project was the D47 Game Day (see an album of photos on Facebook). Several seniors volunteered and were selected to take a field trip and spend half of their Senior Institute Day Wednesday, April 25th playing various games and doing several enjoyable activities with the special needs kids at Hannah Beardsley. The Beardsley gym was transformed into a playground, and the seniors were each assigned to one of the children and given the opportunity to spend an hour making that child happy. Rachel Davis, one of the senior who participated, enjoyed being a part of this project because “being out of class to actually do something worthwhile was extremely rewarding. All the kids did was smile and wanted to be pulled around on scooters.” The D47 Game Day was Kellie Whitworth’s favorite part of the senior project because “they were great kids, seeing the smiles on their faces was extremely rewarding, and focusing on them alone for a whole hour was an incredible experience even though it was definitely exhausting.”
Furthermore, the Senior Project also organized a 5K Walk/Run for the Brayden Spencer Powell Memorial Scholarship. The walk took place Sunday, April 29th and proceeds totaled about $3,000; they were all donated to the BSP Memorial Scholarship. On the day of the 5K, walkers spent their Sunday morning walking the track, while the runners followed a unique course that had been set up on school grounds. All participants received a free T-shirt and water bottle and enjoyed delicious bagels and bananas. The 5K was Haleigh Danek’s favorite component of the Senior Project because “I have been helping out with the 5K Run/Walk every year I have been at PR and therefore I am pretty passionate about it.” She loved seeing “how many teachers came with their families to support Mr. Powell.”
The class of 2012 left a permanent on the Prairie Ridge property by planting ten new trees along Dvorak. Before the trees could be purchased and planted, the seniors had to organize several fundraisers, which included two Culver’s fundraisers, one January 15th and one March 15th. The senior class also took over Turnabout and transformed it into the Dance Marathon, which consisted of five hours of decade-themed songs, dance-offs, costume contests, and most importantly, dancing. Through the Dance Marathon, the seniors raised over $2,000 for the planting of the trees up the front drive. Elisabeth Sladek, a senior, was very happy to finally see the trees planted since “it has been so plain there and while the idea of landscaping was often brought up, we were finally able to actually spice up the front drive.”
Overall, the Senior Project and its components leave Prairie Ridge with positive and exciting memories of the class of 2012. The seniors will be remembered as the individuals who finally landscaped Dvorak, held a Dance Marathon, contributed to the BSP Memorial Scholarship Fund, donated toys and lots of canned goods, and helped bring clean water to people in Latin America. Many of the seniors involved in the Senior Project, like Haleigh Danek, have learned that “with some effort and help from others, we really can make a difference.”
