Boulder Creek High School inspires students to give back
Caitlin McAndrew, adviser for student government and campus activities, believes a huge reason for this success is the involvement of every student.
“We set a goal of $10,000 for our first Wish Week,” said Caitlin. “While that may seem like a lot, if you have 2,000 students and they each can give $5, that makes it possible and so much more attainable."
To build excitement among students and staff, the school shares stories about the impact of a wish and provides different ways throughout the Wish Week that individuals can give.
“At our assembly, I watched a gym full of teenagers go totally silent when a wish kid walked out and our mascot handed her a stuffed jaguar,” she said. “They were so focused on something together (without cell phones or distractions) and seeing everyone supporting the same mission was such a cool moment.”
Another activity that brought everyone together was Miracle Minute, a friendly competition where students dump whatever money they have into buckets.
The student-led committee is encouraged to come up with their own fundraising ideas and past activities have included shirt sales, car washes and gala events with donated items and a silent auction. But this year, Boulder Creek had to rely on mostly online fundraising due to the pandemic.
Boulder Creek's Wish Week in 2020 was the last in-person event they had before the pandemic.
“Even though what we could do this year looked a lot different, wishes still need to be granted and we wanted to do something that brought us together,” she said.
While Caitlin looks forward to a time when her school can get back to the big events and assemblies to show their support for Make-A-Wish, she thinks this past year has put things into perspective.
“These students work so hard and it can be easy for them to feel burnt out or give up on themselves, but it’s a lot harder to give up on a 6-year-old kid fighting leukemia who has already been dealing with these feelings and challenges for years,” she said.