Student-led school supply drive
Photo courtesy of Asst. PR Manager Grace Terhune
The YCC donated school supplies to SUNY Geneseo alum Lauren Totman.
We have now entered the part of the semester where final projects, presentations, and exam preparation are in full swing. That includes the students in Dr. Adams’s WGST-310 Race, Class, and Gender course. Students were tasked with creating an advocacy project focused on the course's theme of intersectionality and applying it to an issue that they were passionate about.
One of the students in the class, Claire Lustig, came up with the idea to use the club she leads, Young Children’s Council (YCC), to help with this advocacy project. She wanted to involve her passion for the club with her project, and the idea of the school supply drive was born. Fellow classmates that shared her passion tagged along for the project.
The drive is benefiting a classroom located at Dansville Elementary School. Claire reached out to a recent alum, the former president of YCC and now first-year teacher, Lauren Totman, and asked if her classroom was in need of supplies to help get her through the rest of the year. It turned out that Lauren was in need of some basic supplies. She expressed that her classroom needed tissues, staples, and pencils.
Rural school districts like Dansville often face unique challenges tied to socioeconomic status. These often include issues like limited funding and fewer community resources, meaning that it can be difficult for parents and teachers to provide basic supplies like tissues for their children’s classrooms. Many of the students organizing this drive have worked in a classroom or are preparing to become teachers, so this particular issue hits home.
The supply drive started on Friday, Nov. 21, giving students time to gather up any extra school supplies they had lying around at home during Thanksgiving break. New or gently used items were accepted to be donated. Donation drop boxes were located in the MacVittie College Union, the English wing of Welles Hall, and the second floor of South Hall by the School of Education suites. The drive wrapped up on Dec. 3 at the YCC’s last meeting of the semester. Members of the club brought their donations to the meeting if they could not make it to the drop box.
By involving YCC with this drive, the students in charge of the drive were able to find a specific group of students that also shared the passion of helping out kids and teachers in the local community.
The school supply drive was able to gather a generous amount of supplies for Lauren’s classroom, and will hopefully help ease some of the worries that come with lacking basic supplies. Lauren plans on sharing any extra supplies with fellow teachers that are also in need.
Along with the school supply drive advocacy project, many other groups in Dr. Adams’s Race, Class, and Gender course created meaningful projects to help the Geneseo community. Another notable project to come out of the class was the creation of Knights’ Armor. The Knights’ Armor project was created to help students in need of necessities such as clothing. Clothing donations were being accepted from Nov. 21 to Dec. 1. On Dec. 4, students could stop by the College Union Ballroom to pick out a few new pieces to add to their wardrobe.
If any students have an interest in starting an advocacy project on an issue related to race, class, or gender that they are passionate about, Dr. Adams’s WGST-310 class may be the perfect class for them.