Dressing as Superheroes to Remember the Troops

Students at got to spend their last day before Memorial Day break dressing up like superheroes to raise money for shipping costs to send care packages to members of the military.

The school's Helping Hands Club organized the first Superhero Day for Thursday, where students who paid $1 had the privilege of dressing like their favorite superhero, or as anything they felt was worthy of that term. Then during lunch, the students chose their favorite costume by voting with applause.

Helping Hands Club advisor Kelly Paredes said club members brainstormed ideas at the beginning of the year and Superhero Day was one of them. The group decided to use the dress-up day to raise money to cover shipping costs for collected items and letters for troops.

"A lot of students have family members or friends of family members who are overseas and they wanted to make sure they were being thought of," Paredes said.

Helping Hands advisor Nora Abbasi added, "The idea is the troops are our superheroes."

The students were excited to dress up and show their creativity. Costumes ranged from the Green Hornet to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to a combination of Batman and Superman.

Sixth-grader Christian Guma said he's a big fan of both Batman and Superman and couldn't decide which to choose, so he wore a Superman shirt and Batman hat and cape. "I dressed up today to support the school and to raise money for troops because the troops do a great thing and they serve for our country and I really want to thank them," he said.

Taylor Giblin, a seventh-grader, dressed as Power Puff Girl Bubbles. "I decided to dress up as a superhero because I thought it would be fun and I wanted to donate money to the troops," she said.

Sixth-grader Melissa Ortiz was dressed as a member the Fantastic Three (one of her friends wasn't able to come as the fourth member). "I thought it was a really cool idea to dress up and be creative," she said.

Joey Ayers, a seventh-grader, chose a more unconventional superhero outfit. "I participated in the event to have fun and advertise the organization called the BSA, Boy Scouts of America," he said.

When it came time for voting, the sixth grade chose Jack Agnew, who dressed as Elmo, as the winner. Seventh-graders picked Deazia Tipton, who was Super Nerd.

"I decided to dress up as Super Nerd because I wanted to donate money to the troops and I try to help as much as I can," Tipton said. "I thought it would be a fun idea to dress up and come to school."

Paredes said the students raised more than $50 through the event. Some students who decided not to dress up still donated to the cause.