By Adam Hocking

Editor

MARSHFIELD — Marshfield High School (MHS) students showed their flair for philanthropy in October by selling sweatbands to help raise money for local charities. This was the inaugural year of the fundraising event, which coincided with the school’s spirit week and Homecoming festivities.

Each grade level raised funds for a different cause. Freshmen’s sales went toward anti-bullying awareness and were donated to the Marshfield Clinic; sophomores’ for pediatric cancer, donated to the Ronald McDonald House; juniors’ for breast cancer awareness, donated to the Angel Fund of the Marshfield Clinic; and seniors’ for domestic violence, donated to Mary’s Place. Mary’s Place shelters those that have felt the impact of domestic violence and are trying to recover.

Freshmen sold blue-colored sweatbands, sophomores sold gold, juniors pink, and seniors purple. On Wednesday, Oct. 8, students came to school dressed in their respective colors. MHS science teacher Jessica LeMoine, who helped come up with the idea for the fundraisers, said the students embraced the challenge of fundraising for a cause.

“It took a little bit to get rolling, and they were fighting it a little bit at first. But if you were to come down to the lunch hour on Wednesday, it was just a rainbow of those four colors throughout, and everyone had the headbands on,” LeMoine said.

The campaign started Oct. 1 and culminated with the students presenting checks to the organizations they raised money for at the Senior High’s Homecoming pep rally on Friday, Oct. 10.

Between the four grade levels, a total of $1,011 was donated to the charities.

“I just hope that they got a good feeling, especially today when they realized what it’s like to fight for a cause. They’re all young, and so they just haven’t experienced a lot of that stuff in life, but what does it feel like to give back to your community and give back to people that actually need something?” LeMoine said.

(Check out video from the Homecoming pep rally here: https://hubcitytimes.wpengine.com/sports/video-mhs-students-get-pumped-homecoming-pep-rally)