Oak Forest HS Students Raise Money for Red Cross Disaster Relief

Students in Oak Forest High School Spanish teacher Danica Mathis’ classes have been discussing the tragedies in Mexico and Puerto Rico earlier this fall. Mexico suffered a horrific 7.1 earthquake on September 20, and Puerto Rico was hit by the category 4 Hurricane Maria on the very same day. Several of the students have relatives living in both countries and wanted to do something to help. They decided to donate money to the Red Cross Relief Fund held by the National Museum of Mexican Fine Arts. Mathis said, “I was blown away by the response from our students! They lined up at my desk giving me bills and change, and some worked extra hours at work to donate! As an incentive, I offered doughnuts to the first class to get $100. That was my 7th hour Spanish II class. The class with the most money raised, received a "Fiesta" and I catered food from El Cortez. 3rd hour Spanish IV Honors earned that party, raising a total of $249.68.”Students in the winning 3rd hour Spanish IV class were: Leonardo Alvarado, Hannah Browne, Ryan Chismark, Rigoberto Duarte, Viviana Frias, Hailey Gula, Ryan Jerkins, Molly Kiley, Sierra Maziur, Karly Moss, Kyle Neylon, Peyton Nielsen, Frank Pedroza-McBride, Brianna Quiroz, Valerie Ramirez, Abby Smith, Matteo Tancredi, Brady Wyszynski, Grace Young, and Paul Zacharopoulos. Mathis’s classes collected a combined $772! She said, “I am just amazed by the generosity from our students. They truly are great kids. I am proud to work here and to experience such selflessness and kind hardheartedness.” The biggest lesson the students learned, according to Mathis is empathy toward this situation. “After seeing the video (about the tragedies), that’s when they wanted to donate,” she said. The 3rd hour Spanish IV Honors class wrote a letter in Spanish that they posted in the classroom, dedicated to the people who suffered and lost their lives in these tragedies. It read, “Dear Mexico, Your country is in our hearts. We’re sorry about all that happened and we hope that you can recuperate from this. With love, the Students of Spanish 4H.”