Wakefield wins $100,000

Celebrate My Drive Campaign a success

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Photo Courtesy of Brent Dorenkamp

Just Think First adviser Tony Calabria and Sandy Gasper look on as State Farm representatives present the $100,000 check.

Hannah Chaya and Meera Mani, Editor-in-Chief and Opinions Editor

What do you get when you add 2,403 students plus the Wakefield staff and the local community? Answer: a whole lot of the “W” spirit in the form of a $100,000 check. State Farm presented Wakefield High School with the $100,00 on December 8, in the auditorium. The logo “it’s all about the ‘W’” was established a few years ago through the leadership of Principal Tripp Crayton and this award proves what can be accomplished when the spirit of the logo is fully embraced.

“I was beyond ecstatic,” said Crayton. “I’m a very quiet guy, and I don’t show a lot of enthusiasm, so on the inside I was bursting, but with everybody else I was kinda low key.

Crayton makes it clear though that it was the efforts of Dr. Vivian Wells, assistant principal, that the project was successful.

“I voted, got email addresses of people I know, and I helped promote it throughout the community at events, functions, etc.,” said Crayton. “I mostly relied on students, teachers, and Wells because it’s important that everyone is involved. Wells, by far, was instrumental with getting this campaign going.”

The goal the Just Think First program set was for each student to gather twenty emails and to vote every day. Students also received service hours if they helped gather emails at various events. This included: Cookies and carpool, the Antique Car Show, and Triangle Mall marketing.

“I think we started to spread the word about JTF and CMD much earlier this year,” said Melissa Schug. “Additionally it helped that we participated in the contest last year because people were familiar with it.”

This participation brought many reactions from disbelief to near acrobatics.

“I just started screaming, and jumping up and down,” Wells said. “I was really excited.”

Many thought the idea of Wakefield winning the contest was far-fetched, but this proved to be untrue.

“Before Celebrate My Drive started, I was hopeful but I’m kind of a pessimist when it comes to this kind of stuff,” said Crayton. “But then I saw on day three or four and we were consistently in the top five, I definitely knew we were going to be in the top five.”

Ultimately, the community’s support is what helped advance our cause.

“I think not just winning the money, that’s just a part of it. What I really liked was the community. Having the whole school work on something, a common goal [is what I really liked],” said Wells.

Throughout the week, students were encouraged to stay after school in the media center to work on voting. Tyler Goldberger, student body president, was one student who worked in this capacity.

“I voted my twenty emails every day, and I went to the media center for a few days after school and I was there until six o’clock,” said Goldberger. “It may be weird but it was helpful because we won, and it was fun.”

Now that the check has been presented and everyone knows the results are true, people are waiting to see how the money will be spent. So far, it has been decided that ten percent of the prize money must be donated to Just Think First, a club that promotes safe driving. Another decision was made to reward our students and staff, each person will receive a Celebrate My Drive t-shirt designed by one of our students. What is done with the remainder of the money will be determined by a committee which consists of Crayton, Wells, students, teachers, and parents.

As the money is spent, it should be interesting to see the changes it is sure to bring. No doubt that the classes of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 will mark this event as one of the hallmarks of their high school experience.

“Overall I have a feeling of pride for what the Wakefield community accomplished,” said Shug. “Coming together, working hard and following though on this committment to safe driving and winning the lottery essentially [creates a sense of pride].”

Reactions overall to this accomplishment have been positive.

“It was truly amazing to see something positive that we can put on Wakefield’s hat,” said Crayton.