Servant leadership strives to give back
Slices for Servant Leadership. Maddie Miller, Sami Wasmund, Olivia Kropp, and Mackenzie Muehleip, all class of 2020, sell slices of pizza in the morning before school. Many people, including teachers, purchase slices of pizza when they get to school in the morning. “People get so excited when they walk in the door and there is pizza being sold,” said Olivia Kropp. “When people have early classes they enjoy being able to come get pizza before the actual school day starts!”
No one knows more about giving back than GHS Servant Leadership. Galena’s Servant Leadership Club is quite small with only 12 people involved in it, but they have always been able to accomplish so much throughout the years, and this year especially.
The mentors of the group are Sarah Newton and Annie Huber and they never fail to make sure SL is always helping out the community in one way or another.
With many opportunities to give back this year, Mrs. Newton talked about what Servant Leadership has in store for the community.
“Some of our big plans include giving money to Jo Carroll Energy to offset the cost of heating for several people, holding an Apple Watch raffle where all the funds raised will go to the Workshop for the good things they do for the developmentally disabled in Galena, and raising money for packing meals to be sent to Haiti, or other third world countries, with all the other school groups in Servant Leadership,” said Newton.
As well as these bigger projects, Servant Leadership also sells Casey’s breakfast pizza once a month before school. The proceeds from this fund raiser go towards future activities for SL and the meal packing for their Regional Project.
“I think selling breakfast pizza in the morning is a really big hit. People really seem to enjoy the fact that they don’t have to rush to eat breakfast at home and can just pick it up on their way inside,” said Olivia Kropp ‘20. “We’ve raised a good amount of money from the times we’ve sold so far, and I think GHS students would like to see it keep happening.”
Just recently, the club decided to take a couple old fund raisers and put them to use again this year. These were the Hat Drive (done at the primary and middle schools) and the iconic Apple Watch fund raiser. These were both an incredible success and the proceeds went to great causes.
The Apple Watch proceeds went to the Workshop so they can continue to do good things for the developmentally disabled in Galena, and the proceeds from the hat drive went to Jo Carroll Energy to offset the cost of heating for many people
“The hat drive was a really big success,” said Mackenzie Muehleip ‘20. “I’m glad we decided to hold it at the other two schools as well because there was far more participation. We raised more than $350 just from students bringing in $1 to wear a hat that day.”
Many people were excited about the Apple Watch raffle, where the students and faculty of Galena High School could spend three dollars on a raffle ticket for the possibility of winning a Series Three Apple Watch with a value of upwards of 250 dollars. And of course, there’s the people who buy 20 tickets or more hoping it gives them a better chance of winning, but it all comes down to the lucky draw. This year’s watch winner was James Salazar ‘22.
“I think this raffle is always one of the best ones we do,” said Shea Curran ‘19. “There is a lot of participation so we are able to raise large amounts of money for good causes.”
Monthly meetings for the organization are hosted at Highland Community College in Freeport, IL. Usually accompanied by a volunteer activity, they allow the all students in Servant Leadership to gain a new perspective on what it means to be a leader and learn how to use teamwork.
This year, GHS Servant Leadership has already accomplished a great deal in such a short amount of time, and they continue to strive and give back to the community every day.
