Back into action: Warden FFA revives student engagement
Samaria Reyes holds up some of the socks donated to the sock drive.
Erik Colombia/courtesy photo
Ariana Arceta runs to find her next recipient as the man behind her smiles after receiving the bouquets on Oct. 20.
One recipient of a bouquet of flowers on Oct. 20 was Warden City librarian Jean Russell. From left to right: Kenna Cox, Caitlynn Berry, Russell and Ashlynn Berry.
From left to right, Ariana Arceta, Daisy Leavitt (in back) and Jesus “Sky” Lemus Estrada carry flowers down the streets of Warden as they find community members to give them to on Oct. 20.
WARDEN — Caitlin Coulsey, one of two FFA advisers at Warden High School, has taken on the goal of arranging one to two community activities each month for her students.
“We’ve been out of contact for two years; we want to reconnect students and the community,” Coulsey said.
In October, Coulsey put on two activities “Sock”tober and “Petal” It Forward.
“Petal” It Forward was held on Oct 20. Two floral design classes made 264 bouquets and were “let loose on the town,” Coulsey said, to find different members of the community to give the bouquets to. They gave each person two bouquets, one to keep and one to give away as a pay-it-forward activity, to reintroduce students to their community and to bring joy to people.
“Sock”tober was a sock drive that Coulsey put on to donate to the local WIC office. Coulsey said their goal is to donate 100 pairs of socks. Coulsey said they will take any size socks but are focusing on children’s socks.
Their poster for the drive says “During the month of October, Warden Middle and High School FFA students are collecting socks for charity, to help ensure those in need have access to one more thing that many of us take for granted.”
Two seniors, Aidan Smoot and Alison Abregana, have taken on helping with the drive for their senior projects.
Students who participate in “Sock”tober receive two points per pair of children’s socks they donate and one point per pair of adult socks. The three students with the most points will win a Walmart gift card. First place receives $50, second place is $25 and third place is $10.
Coulsey said she is finding a lot of success with the community activities, and “Sock”tober specifically, which brought in a couple of large bags’ worth of donated socks.
Anyone wanting to support “Sock”tober can drop off socks at the Warden School District Office until Nov. 3.
