At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year my Spanish teaching colleagues and I decided we would like to participate in AHMEN's Christmas Shoe Box program. One day last month we all took our classes to the auditorium and explained the project and asked if students wanted to participate. Hoping they would say "YES" Señora Land, Señorita Hill, Señor Roberts, and I hung sign-up sheets in the Franklin County High School auditorium and asked students to sign up to bring 10 of the same item to help fill the shoe boxes as part of a collaborative effort. 
And boy did they!!
Knowing that pure altruism would not motivate our teenage scholars Señorita Hill devised a plan to actually get our students to BRING in the items. We told our classes that whichever teacher's students brought in the most items would be rewarded with a fiesta. We didn't need to say anything else. Almost immediately the items began to flow into our classrooms.
After it was all said and done, the Franklin County High School Spanish Department amassed 200 filled shoe boxes to send to impoverished children in Honduras.
The generosity and love our students showed over the last 2 months has been overwhelming. I could not believe how well our students came together for a purpose greater than themselves. Much of what we do in education can seem quite bogus on occasion. Our state standards 2 & 5 remind us as a department to encourage our students to be part of a world community, and our students have done just that. An entire community of children in Honduras who would otherwise go without any presents during the holidays will now experience joy and excitement because of our student leaders here in Franklin County.
I give special thanks to my colleagues for supporting this memorable project and to my darling wife for letting us use her 4-Runner. I hope that with this gesture the children of Honduras know that the world is cheering for them.
Together, we are the difference.
