Shortly after the Perry High School shooting on Jan. 4, the Boyer Valley Middle School student council knew that it wanted to lend a helping hand to those affected.
Spearheaded by Harper Christiansen, eighth grade, and Addison Dumbaugh, seventh grade, the Boyer Valley students who make up the council passed around buckets at the basketball games against Woodbine on Jan. 19 as part of a fundraising effort.
“We knew we were playing against Woodbine, who would definitely try to help us,” Christiansen said. “We knew it would be a full house because we're so close, and it's usually a pretty competitive game. We thought with that many people there, we might as well pass them out at the game.”
When all was said and done, $264 was donated to Perry and $264 was donated to Children's Square in Council Bluffs, as it is the closest mental health facility that focuses on children and teenagers.
“We saw that they really needed help, and even if $500 can't do too much, we wanted to do anything we could,” Dumbaugh said.
Christiansen joined the student council last year, and Dumbaugh joined this year. Just this school year they have helped to organize a can drive and are currently organizing a school dance and dress-up week for Read Across America.
The student council has also implemented paw prints, a nod to the Bulldogs mascot, that emphasize kindness and positivity while recognizing students at the middle school who exemplify those characteristics.
With their recent fundraising effort, the members of the student council put those characteristics on display themselves.
“It's a small school just like ours,” Christiansen said of Perry. “Anything can happen, and we've got to stick with each other to get through.”
“When it first happened, we for sure knew what we were going to do,” Dumbaugh followed. “They're a smaller school and so are we, so we felt a connection.”
Chrystal Rico is the teacher who assists the middle school's student council. Other student council members are Nolan Denton, Thomas Heistand, Ty Sullivan, Trevan Krajicek, Lane Martens, Mason Lehan and Cash Mueller.
