U-Hi Students Enjoy Their Role Making Season Special For Kids
On most weekends, the University High School library is a quiet place.
Last Saturday, it was filled with the happy noise of 30 youngsters whose Christmas wishes were coming true.
The occasion was the school’s annual Adopt-A-Tot Christmas party. If not for the efforts of U-Hi students, these youngsters might not have had a Christmas.
The students had earlier gotten a list of kids in need from the Salvation Army, then bought presents for them.
The leadership class planned the party. It had everything - cookies, pop, songs and, of course, Santa.
This particular St. Nick was a little on the young side, but no knee-highs were the wiser. Josh Frye was a U-Hi senior, his mass substantially augmented by pillows.
“You look very nice,” leadership teacher Trish Roeber told him. “Very robust.”
Frye sat down amid a jumble of shiny packages, a bookcase-turned-hearth as backdrop. Red construction paper covered it, marker lines sectioning it into bricks.
Kids swarmed him. It took a teenaged crowd-control team several minutes to organize the young mob. Now, photos.
As seniors Sarah Stark and Anna Conant took snaps, math teacher Brian Schmidt watched. His class bought about a quarter of all the toys. One student even donated $50.
The teens really got motivated, though, when they went shopping. They weren’t just throwing money at a faceless organization, but buying for a specific kid.
“Plus, it’s a blast shopping for toys,” Schmidt admitted.
One of Santa’s biggest fans was Danielle McGillis, 4. What she didn’t like was the candy stick someone gave her. She showed it to Roeber, who immediately diagnosed the problem.
“It’s butterscotch,” she said. “You don’t like that? I don’t like it either.”
Danielle, now discovering one of the great components of her budding personality, hollered with conviction: “Mom! I don’t like butterscotch!”
What everyone liked were the gifts.
James Hollingsworth, 7, was one of the first to open presents. He scored big. The first package contained a sweatshirt. Cool, sure. But the next was the real prize.
“A monkey!” he said, his small face glowing at 10,000 candlepower. James hugged the fuzzy brown stuffed toy with all his might, its head and feet growing as its belly got the squeeze.
The crowd, overwhelmed by cuteness, sighed a collective “Ohhhhhhh!” James’ other gift was a beeping Power Rangers sword.
Soon, wrapping paper littered the room. Uncovered were dolls, big green spring-loaded shoes, toy trucks, even radio-controlled cars. Roeber spotted her favorite.
“That’s Elmo,” she said, pointing to a big red Sesame Street Muppet. “He’s cool. I’d like an Elmo.” (A hint?)
The place became what little ones always want libraries to be - a great big playground. Danielle raced around pushing her pink stroller, nearly colliding with Jacob Dittman, 5, and his yellow dump truck and spotting them just in time at the invisible intersection.
“Honk, honk!” Jacob protested. Next he wanted to open his Legos, but mom said not here. Could be dangerous - someone might try to taste them.
Taunya Dittman looked lovingly at her little boy.
“He got exactly what he wanted,” she said, smiling. “This made our Christmas really nice.”
, DataTimes MEMO: Valley Snapshots is a regular Valley Voice feature that visits gatherings in the Valley. If you know of a good subject for this column, please call reporter Ward Sanderson at 927-2154.