November 27th, the day before Thanksgiving, CMS had a half day. During the school day, all students attended the Giving Assembly. The purpose of the gathering was to reflect on our gratitude in our daily lives. Representatives from several charities were at our school, and students presented all of the food and money they had collected over the month of November. The Chamber Orchestra, Camerata, and 7th & 8th grade band all performed their amazing pieces for the school.
The Charities
Sixth grade chose to donate to the Westport Department of Human Services and Homes with Hope. These charities help people by giving people personal support and help with homelessness. Students’ challenge was to bring in money and non-perishable foods. Each item of food and each dollar collected counted as one point. The team with the most total points won! This money and food was donated to the two charities.
The seventh grade chose to donate to Westport Department of Human Services. They created ‘Fixin’ Boxes filled with non-perishable food to give to people. The Owl Team created boxes filled with breakfast foods such as coffee, pancake mix, honey, tea, and more. The Falcon Team created boxes with Thanksgiving dinner foods such as canned vegetables, pumpkins, cranberry sauce, instant mashed potatoes, dry cookies, apple juice, and more.
Eighth grade decided they wanted to donate to Al’s Angels. Al’s Angels helps people with rare blood diseases, cancer, natural disasters, and financial hardships. Their challenge was called the coin war. Each homeroom had a jar outside the room, and students brought in money. Each dollar was worth 100 points, and coins were worth negative points. Dollars and bills went into each homeroom’s jar, and coins were put in other jars to make them have less points. The homeroom with the most points won, and in the end, all money will be combined and given to Al’s Angels.
The Assembly
The assembly started with the pledge of allegiance, then the Camerata sang the Star-Spangled Banner. After, student speakers from the sixth grade presented the donations to their chosen charities. The representatives from the charities spoke and gratefully accepted all of CMS’ donations. Next, the chamber orchestra played a piece called Danza Espanola. Once they finished, another group of students came up to give the food from the seventh graders to the representative of the charity, who also spoke. The band played a song called Colliding Visions. Afterwards, the final group of students came up to give the gift from the eighth grade. A representative took a couple minutes to talk to the students about the charity, Al’s Angels. Hopefully everyone had a good experience and a chance to reflect on everything they are grateful for.
