High school teachers trade comfort for food

Canned food drive benefits community

MOSES LAKE — Some staff at Moses Lake High School are about to become very uncomfortable.

Twelve employees volunteered themselves as goal markers for a two-week canned food drive to benefit the Moses Lake Food Bank. The food drive starts Monday and runs until Nov. 17.

If students bring in 1,500 cans of food, two staff members get pied in the face. At 2,000 cans, High School Principal David Balcom and another staff member are kissing a live pig. At 2,500 cans, three staff members get a mixture of ingredients dumped on them. At 3,000 cans, three teachers lip-sync to the Aqua song "Barbie Girl."

If students collect 3,500 cans of food, Associated Student Body Co-Advisor David Kirk is dying his hair and shaving it into a Mohawk.

The final goal is even tougher to reach at 5,000 cans, but if students do, English teacher Steve Lindholm is shaving a beard he has worn continuously since 1991.

"There are a couple of students out there who are afraid of what's under the beard," Lindholm joked.

A solid following of students are itching to see his beard taken off, but it is too early to tell whether he should worry, he said. Fellow teachers tell him it is definitely coming off.

Lindholm said he volunteered to become a goal mark because the goals are a great way to encourage school spirit. He also likes the direction Kirk and his Co-Advisor Esther Ciganda are taking with the canned food drive. In the past, students competed for the most cans by grade level. This year they are working toward a common goal.

Kirk said the decision to change the competition's format was influenced by the amount of motivation that could be garnered with a common goal. If students notice one class is overwhelmingly in the lead for most cans, they might not feel motivated to bring more in. It is also intended to increase school spirit.

"We're trying to kind of change the culture of the school," Kirk said.

Kirk offered up his head of hair for the food drive. He said he wanted to set the Mohawk/dye mark high enough on the list that it would be a difficult goal to reach, and theoretically his hair would remain safe.

"The more students get charged about this, the more I think my hair is definitely at risk," he said.