![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
Four Xavier College Preparatory girls, Kaitlyn Markham, Karina Zaveri, Aanvi Goel and Riya Mehta created non-profit organizations to serve their community.
“Math Magicians” and “My Tasty Table” applied to The Dragon Kim Foundation. After an intense application process of a video application, essays, questions and interviews. Both organizations the girls founded earned $5000 scholarships. After receiving the money, both groups received mentorships provided by the foundation.
“Math Magicians” is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help young kids with learning disabilities find a love for math through interactive games, such as Easter-egg clock, beach-ball math, math jenga and other engaging games created by the group.
Founders of “Math Magicians”, Markham and Zaveri, helped nearly 70 kids ages 5 through 10 learn math interactively while working with special needs teachers to revise their curriculums and confirm the benefits.
“I think it helped more when they had something interactive to do instead of just sitting still,” Markham said.
Markham and Zaveri were featured on “AZ Family News,” “ABC 15,” “Epic Kids AZ,” and “The Catholic Sun.” While “My Tasty Table” made appearances on “ABC 15,” “Independent Newsmedia,” “Head Topics,” and “AZ Family.”
Goel and Mehta are two of the three founders of “My Tasty Table.” Their objective as a non-profit organization is to give kids the opportunity to become educated on the importance of healthy eating.
These students are helping others learn about healthy eating and healthy recipes. “Food is a right, not a privilege,” says Goel.
“My Tasty Table” recently hosted its culminating event, spreading awareness and raising over $1500. The event hosted over 100 people which included a three-course restaurant-style meal, informational speeches and testimonials.
“Xavier did so much. The school gave us a lot of support and helped us advertise, like reposting our posts, spreading the word and getting people to come to our events. I would say they were like the biggest help,” Goel said. “They’ve also been very helpful in getting the word out about this project.”
“A lot of people within the Xavier community came to volunteer and then we also had a lot of friends from outside of school and family as well,” Mehta said.
When it comes to the future, they look forward to expanding and continuing their organization. “We’ve been talking about a cookbook with all of our recipes,” says Goel. “If we’re not able to directly continue, I think that’s something that will have an impact.”
“You definitely get a whole new perspective on the issue,” Mehta says. Not only do they teach others the importance of food, but also the importance of helping others.
“It’s been so eye-opening. I always knew the problem around food, but not until I was directly working with the kids who are experiencing that. It’s just honestly life-changing,” Goel said.
This story was originally published on XPress on October 5, 2023.