Spirit of Generosity Transpires from Coin Wars

Spirit of Generosity Transpires from Coin Wars

Mia Gonzalez/Hawkview

Throughout the month of September, La Quinta High held a competition to raise money for the Desi Strong Foundation for childhood cancer awareness. Every fourth period class on campus competed to see who would collect the most coins.

Ms. Chesebrough’s generous freshman English class won by raising an $895.71. Ms. Schuler’s U.S. History class came in second, collecting $784.18. Ms. Thornbury’s IB Biology class placed third, raising $520.29. LQHS collected the most throughout Desert Sands Unified School District, with a total of $4,913. As a whole, the district raised $15,347.

A total of 60 students counted the coins daily and the final amount was counted by a coin counting machine for accuracy. ASB’s community service senator, Angie Soria (12) said, “Seeing everyone come in every day to count coins was really cool. It wasn’t a bother at all because it was all for a good cause.”

During the competition, Chesebrough sent a card to ASB to share what transpired in her fourth period class. In the letter, she wrote, “We didn’t know there was a prize. The first day we just started collecting spare change and no one picked it up. The second day, kids started looking at lunch money, [saying] ‘I have $5 dollars, I only need $3’ and putting the extra money in the bag. Then after the weekend, a girl donated the money she earned babysitting. Students started washing their parents’ cars and bringing in coins. A boy told me he was spending the weekend at a camp for kids with childhood cancer. I could go on and on.”  

Chesebrough added, “We all shared stories about our losses due to cancer. We want that monster stopped. For us, it was never about winning; it was and is about the cause.”