By Anna Skinner
During the Christmas season, young kids are absolutely ecstatic about going to meet Santa and relaying their wish list to him, but usually parents have to search for Santa at various shopping malls. Thanks to the Westfield High School Executive Committee, Santa and Mrs. Claus were as close as the school where they were invited to breakfast on Dec. 8.
“It was an opportunity for primarily elementary students to come meet Santa and Mrs. Claus and have breakfast,” Mark Ewing, co-sponsor of the executive committee, said. “We asked the parents to bring in canned goods which went to Open Doors of Washington Township.”
About 150 elementary students attended the breakfast, resulting in 225 pounds of non-perishable goods to be donated to Open Doors.
“We [the executive committee]wanted to bring the high school closer to the community,” Ewing said.
The executive committee strives for student leadership and involvement with the community. According to Ewing, the committee is the bridge between the high school and the city of Westfield. Ewing explained that the committee looked for ways to share the positive aspects of high school organizations. Along with co-sponsor Alex Gable, Ewing and the committee try to find various ways to connect the students with the Westfield community.
The eight members of the committee – Jacob Tebbe, Tolu Odimayomi, Lauren Huser, Shannon Webb, Nathan Manworren, Nathan Ressler, Nick Jeffers and Kristin Hitch – all participated at the breakfast. The students helped with the coloring stations, assisted with breakfast distribution, and painted the faces of the little ones who came to meet Santa from 9 to 11 a.m.
