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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

U-Hi taking food drive up a notch


The Advanced Leadership Class at University High is calling its food drive
Treva Lind Correspondent

A little March Madness has inspired University High School students to ramp up a food drive this month.

Called “Munch Madness,” the contest divides homeroom classes into elimination brackets similar to ones for college teams heading into the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship to determine the Final Four. Leadership teacher Jessica Walters said students organized the event starting March 3 and ending just before spring break.

“Just like the basketball brackets, we have the four different brackets with freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors,” said Walters. “Last week, the freshmen just smoked everyone.”

As another basketball parallel, students can score up to a 3-pointer – that is bringing in any bigger food item that can last more than one meal – cereal or a huge can. A regular 15- to 16-ounce can of food scores two points and a smaller item from tuna to a jar of baby food brings in a point each.

“Each class has goofy team names,” Walters said. “Right before spring break, we’ll start with the elite eight TAP classes, and on the Friday before spring break they’ll get narrowed to the Final Four.”

Plans call for an eating contest among the Final Four during a school assembly. “For the final two teams, we’ll do a food fight of some sort.” Any such battle would follow guidelines involving only the participants, Walters added.

Outback Steakhouse has agreed to host the winning class for a free lunch. IHOP will sponsor the second-place team, Walters said.

The spring contest is a new approach for U-Hi, which typically held a food drive around December. Organizers decided that too many activities conflicted, and that community food closets often found supplies depleted by spring.

The buzz at U-Hi over the food contest seems greater than past years, Walters said.

“There are a lot of kids who have gotten involved who usually don’t. One class is putting up their own signs. They’re out to win. The main goal is to help people but the kids also want to do something fun. We have a closet already 4 feet deep with food.”

As of midweek, the school collection totaled 3,173 points, and freshmen brought in 1,629 of those.

Walters’ entire leadership class is helping with the drive along with ASB president Brett Vlahovich and ASB officer Garrett Evenson, who is next year’s ASB president.

The donations will go to the Valley Food Bank with much of it delivered this month.

If people in the community want to support the project or have questions, they can contact Walters at 228-5264.

Superintendent interviews scheduled

The East Valley School District board is inviting school staff, students, parents and community members to participate in a group interview process with final candidates for superintendent.

People can participate in two ways.

They can be involved in interview committees for seven groups being formed that will meet with a facilitator to discuss the interview process. The deadline to participate is March 18 by contacting Jodi Brown at 924-1830. The panel members will attend all interviews, ask questions and submit comments on candidate input forms. These groups include: central office administrators, central office classified staff, high school students, building principals, classified staff, certified staff and community members.

As a second way to be involved, anyone can attend the interviews and listen to candidates. They will be invited to provide comments on candidate input forms.

The dates of April 7, 9, 10 and 11 are scheduled for each candidate to spend a day in the district and community. The board will read all candidate input forms during the process before making a final decision.