Strathmore High School pulls an all-nighter

Adelle Ellis
Times Reporter

 

The second annual Strathmore High School (SHS) wake-a-thon took place on Feb. 9 when 114 students pulled the greatest all-nighter they may ever have.
The wake-a-thon used to run annually years ago to raise money for Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), but unfortunately over time, students lost interest so the annual event was cancelled.
In 2016 the school challenged the students to raise $2,000 for Hope for Syria. The Spartan Council, the school’s leadership program, took on that challenge and the idea of holding a wake-a-thon was greatly supported. The council far exceeded their monetary goal and students had so much fun that the event was brought back for another year.
“It was a fantastic night. This year our purpose was to build friendships, have fun and raise money,” said Cheryl Davidson, a teacher at SHS who helped organize this years’ event.
$2,200 was raised and all the proceeds from this year have been donated to the Strathmore High Spartan Council, which runs several activities and events each year for the purpose of enhancing leadership skills and qualities of all students through meaningful activities, events, campaigns and conferences.
The night was full of activities including line dance and square dance lessons, a crib tournament, playing capture the flag, online gaming and playing board games, seeing movies in the theatre, eating pizza and having a pancake breakfast the following morning.
After the event ended and all the pancakes had been eaten, students went home to sleep through their flex Friday day off school. Some students even challenged themselves to stay awake the whole Friday in order not to throw off their sleeping schedule too much.
“The best part was watching the students create their own fun and make new friends,” said Davidson. “I would like this to be an annual event as long as the staff at Strathmore High School continues to be willing to give up a night of sleep to supervise,” she joked.