Connally High School brings Santa to life for 77 children

Connally High School brings Santa to life for 77 children

Written by Tiffany Young Monday, 07 January 2008

Pflugerville Independent School District’s Connally High School teaches high school students the pleasure of giving through its yearly Adopt-a-Child program. The program has been around so long, teachers and faculty can’t remember how it got started.

Connally High School’s student council sponsor and English teacher Laura Brown remembers participating in the program when she was a student at Pflugerville High School in the late 1980s. Now she coordinates the event for CHS.

This year CHS adopted 77 children and raised more than $12,000 for gifts.

“I was really proud of our school,” Brown said. “It went the best it’s ever gone.”

The process starts in October for Brown, long before the holiday season. Teachers fill out forms letting her know if they would like to participate and whether they prefer to adopt a girl or boy.

Participating classrooms get an elementary student’s name from one of the feeder schools: Delco Primary, Parmer Lane, Wieland Elementary, Copperfield Elementary, Dessau Elementary, Northwest Elementary and River Oaks Elementary. Children are chosen by the schools’ counselors based on financial need.

Copperfield Elementary counselor Kathy Garza has participated in PISD’s Adopt-a-Child program since she came to the district from the Austin Independent School District in 2002. She’s seen a wide range of reactions from children over the years.

“They can’t believe it,” Garza said. “I’ve heard, ‘Is this real? Am I dreaming?’ It’s precious.”

After the class receives a name and list of gifts the child wants, the class collects donations, with a goal of $100, which it takes to buy presents for the children.

The elementary children are then brought by Durham buses to CHS, where a classroom throws a party, complete with food and drinks, and gives their adopted child wrapped Christmas presents.

“It’s an amazing thing to do for others,” Garza said. “It’s a good thing in this day and age to teach kids to give.”

The Adopt-a-Child gifts were given Dec. 21.

On the day of the event, elementary school children slowly filled Connally’s cafeteria. One child worried because she forgot to tell Santa how many days she had been good. Excited voices filled the halls as high school students, representatives of their second period classes, picked up the children and took them to the classroom. The children appeared intimidated by the older students at first, but quickly warmed up to them after a few minutes.

After the children opened their gifts and enjoyed refreshments in the different classrooms, they met back in the cafeteria before loading onto buses to return to their school.

While footballs sailed across the cafeteria, teachers and counselors corralled their students as they rode past on their scooters, skateboards and bicycles.

Some kids quietly took everything in, while others exclaimed, “This is awesome!”

Bags of toys cluttered the floor, each with a different name written in marker with gifts ranging from PlayStations, to Bratz dolls, to sunglasses, to Nike shoes, to tea sets, to crayons. High school students volunteered to load gifts onto the bus, and the children were on their way back to their own schools.

It’s a lot to happen in just one hour, but somehow the students, teachers and counselors worked together to make it a successful event.

Other Charitable Involvement

Austin school district

The Assistance League of Austin hosts Operation School Bells in the Austin Independent School District.

Last year AL Austin provided 3,368 students at 105 AISD schools with a full school wardrobe of new clothing, shoes, book bag and grooming kit through Operation School Bell.

Monetary donations can be mailed to 4901 Burnet Road, Austin, TX, 78756-2609.

Round Rock district

With the help of the annual Celebration of Love Program and Snappy Snacks Chief Executive Officer Tom Ramsey, The Families in Transition Program at Round Rock ISD was able to distribute 750 grocery vouchers to RRISD families in need for a holiday meal.

The vouchers were named the Lauren Voucher in memory of Lauren Ruiz, a former student. Three youth groups and staff from Success East, Stony Point High School and Deerpark Middle School volunteered as well as numerous team members of The Student Diversity and Learning Program.

A total of 74 students, staff and families signed up to volunteer to hand out the vouchers.