Photo by Will Cornelius
Student sprayed their teachers with silly string at a special assembly on May 1 to celebrate money they raised for Give Next.

By Kristi Leonard
The Surveyor

On the first of May, students at Turner Middle School started their day watching some of their teachers get sprayed with Silly String and getting a pie to the face. Other teachers dyed their hair or got piercings. Peter McFeely, the sponsor of the Give Next group behind the day’s events, shaved his head bald.

Give Next is a school-based program designed to provide middle school students with hands-on experience in philanthropic giving. TMS set a goal to raise $200 to add to the $5,000 from Give Next. However, thanks to the generosity of the students and parents of TMS, they were able to raise almost $450.

TMS Give Next class created a mission statement of wanting to donate to people who help prevent sexual assault and abuse while aiding victims. The Crawford Child Advocacy Center was their main focus. They also donated to ChildSafe and SAVA (Sexual Assault Victims Advocates). Checks were presented at the assembly to the cheers of the students.

Turner’s Dragon Leadership Team, led by Gifted and Talented Coordinator Kristi Leonard, has been organizing and directing the school assemblies, castle competitions, raising money through students paying $1 to wear a hat on Fridays and creating ideas for Spirit Week. The group also worked on projects to improve the school and community environment.

Students took an audit of energy usage, lighting and recycling within the school. Then they developed a plan for how to use resources more efficiently. One group of students entered an energy contest sponsored by Resource Central. TMS finished in second place (by 10 points), however, the real win was they created a plan that saved $309 in energy costs in one week of concentrated efforts. The group wanted to say a huge thank you to the staff, especially the custodial staff who made it a success. Students who worked on this project were: David Brindle, Levi Chingren, Sophia DesEnfants, Reign Mathis, Cory Riddle, Brooklyn Schoenauer, Makayla Ward, and Harper Wiesen.

DLT students also informed the staff and students about what can be recycled (paper and bottles mostly) and what cannot (anything that holds food) in the single-stream recycling at TMS. They started with an audit of the recycle bins and created a plan to increase usable recycling. They organized the Earth Day celebration and worked on preparations for the Trashion Show. Students who worked on these projects were: Elena Armendariz, Lilly Everson, Kaitlyn Guzman, Addison Jones, Laila Nichols, and Cassi Vinaske.

Another group of students organized a three-on-three basketball tournament to purchase a concrete trash to be permanently placed outside. Unfortunately, the tournament had to be canceled due to a lack of teams. Students who worked on this project were: Bella Davis, Tavish Fisher, Trenton Rodriguez, and Kate Trainor.