![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)
When holiday spirit meets fierce competition, West High’s social studies department turns giving into a game. This year’s season of giving brought West High’s 12th year of decking the halls with cans for the holidays. From Dec. 10-17, students participated in the Holiday Food Drive, an annual tradition hosted by the social studies department. In an effort to serve the community during the holiday season, teachers collected canned foods throughout the week, including items like canned vegetables, pasta and peanut butter, to donate to local families through the Parkway Food Pantry.
But there’s a catch. To create some friendly competition, the drive features an almost decade-long faceoff between social studies teachers Jeff Chazen and Annie Wayland. All other teachers in the department are assigned to a team — Team Chazen or Team Wayland — as they work to rack up the most donations for their respective side. The team with the most cans by Dec. 17 is crowned the winner of the Holiday Food Drive, with a year of bragging rights to their name.
The tradition began in 2011 as an opportunity to align coursework with service volunteering. Within Parkway’s previous curriculum, the food drive, hosted between Thanksgiving and winter break, was created to fall within the period of teaching about the Great Depression. While learning about food insecurity struggles in American history, students could also participate in a drive to help the current community, transferring their education to real-world application.
“We were trying to incorporate community service with our curriculum, and [the drive] seemed like a really easy fit to do that,” Chazen said. “We had such success during the first year that we just continued on with it ever since.”
In 2013, the holiday food drive intensified into another tradition entirely — the renowned Team Chazen versus Team Wayland rivalry. After altering the focus of the drive into a holiday competition, the social studies department found a growing eagerness among students to participate and contribute to their team’s donations.
“There’s always an extra element when there’s competitiveness,” Wayland said. “People have a tendency to show up and compete; they like the intensity and seeing everybody get involved and having fun and even heckling each other. [Competition] adds to the fun of things, and it also forces more people to participate because they want to see the rivalry continue and escalate.”
As a result, the drive became an official, thriving rivalry where students are convinced to bring in the most cans for their respective teacher and team in order to win the competition. The unique component has benefited the cause itself as students feel compelled to contribute to their teacher’s team.
“Especially in previous years and this year, [the holiday drive] makes people rally together to support a good cause and adds a fun competition between Team Chazen and Wayland,” senior and Rho Kappa media manager Brooke Hoenecke said. “It’s always a really heated competition which makes it a lot of fun.”
In recent years, Parkway’s shift to a new curriculum has caused the history unit covering the Great Depression to transfer over to the second semester. Despite the change, the success and notability of the food drive competition has led the social studies department to continue the tradition in December, upholding support for the Parkway Food Pantry throughout the holiday season. Through the event, Chazen notes, students can also extend their sphere of empathy towards common struggles during the holiday season.
“The drive puts the correct perspective on things and reminds us that we’re pretty fortunate that we’re not having to deal with food insecurity and all of the obstacles that raises,” Chazen said. “It puts the holiday time period in its proper frame that we should be thinking about others, and again, connects with the relevance of what we’re learning in school, adding the character element to the academic element.”
In terms of competition, success was granted for Team Wayland on Dec. 17, as the social studies teacher marked her 12th season on the side of victory with a whopping 3,614 cans to her team’s name. Most importantly, though, the drive finished its 13th year of success with 5,077 total cans donated to the cause. Shipped out to the Parkway Food Pantry on Dec. 18, the substantial donation helps families in need in the Parkway community and marks the second most successful collection in the history of the Holiday Food Drive.
“The generosity from our students, leadership from our teachers and selfless community continues to be overwhelming year after year,” Wayland said. “I am extremely proud to be a part of this community. The Parkway Food Pantry was overwhelmed with our collections and so very grateful for the items. The amount of families they are going to be able to help this next few months is amazing.”
This story was originally published on Pathfinder on December 19, 2024.
