De Soto High School Student Council members left their various Sunday activities to make the trip to DHS, despite it being the weekend on Dec. 10. StuCo divided into three groups which would all perform important tasks to give back to the community.

The first group went to Target to buy Christmas presents for a special purpose.

“We adopted a [local] family for Christmas, and we went Christmas shopping yesterday [Dec. 10] and wrapped all their gifts and stuff like that,” StuCo sponsor Lori Hughes said. “They [the students] had a good time doing that.”

Hughes thinks that ‘adopting’ a family was a great way to help the community.

“I think it’s just really important to give back to the community if you’re able to,” Hughes said. “Our students really took ownership of that, and I think they benefit from seeing situations that are unlike theirs, in certain circumstances.”

The second group of students, including junior Alyssa Perry, contributed to the community in a different way by watching over younger students.

“A bunch of kids from Starside [Elementary School] came to watch the Polar Express in the Black Box,” Perry said.”We had a lot of fun with them. They seemed really excited to try something new.”

Along with watching the movie, Perry says that they played games like Simon Says with the younger students.

The movie day had the specific purpose of giving parents the opportunity to go holiday shopping while their kids  had someone to look after them.

“I think it was good for the parents especially,” Perry said. “It’s a way for them to get someone to babysit their kids.”

Perry’s favorite part of the experience was “interacting with the little kids. They seemed to enjoy hanging out with high schoolers.”

As well as helping parents, the experience also helped the Starside kids.

“I think the younger students in the district benefit from seeing good role models and interacting with older students,” Hughes said.

The third group of students participated in an event called ‘Cram and Cocoa,’ where middle school students from Mill Creek Middle School and Lexington Trails Middle School came to DHS to drink hot chocolate and prepare for finals.

“We just did it for a community service project,” Hughes said. “It wasn’t a fundraiser or anything. We’re just trying to be helpful to our community and be good role models.”

As for future projects like this, Hughes would like to do one again, saying that “it’s definitely on the table for discussion.”