One cause. One goal. One team.

Remember when you were in high school? Remember the rivalries with other local teams? There were only two high schools in my home town, and I remember intense battles, both on the courts and fields and off. We liked to win all sporting events, but when we could beat our rival school the victory was that much sweeter.

It's still the same. There are three high schools where I live and work now, and the rivalries between the three are going strong. Southridge is the youngest of the three schools, but that may make the rivalries even more intense. We don't have the long history the other two schools have, or the traditions that have been in place since the ice ages.

The kids are working hard on changing that though. Probably our best tradition, because it is entirely student created, run, and sustained, is the "Trash Can Clan." Four years ago, four over-the-top spirited and goofy sophomore boys got together and cut holes in plastic trash cans and spray painted them blue and gold (school colors), donned them, and headed off for a football game. They were an instant hit. From that point forward, they have had reserved front row seats at every game at every sporting event. I'm sure you recall what kind of prime real estate that is! And, in true Trash Can Clan tradition, they paint their cans differently for each game.

Last year, when the four guys in the original group were seniors, one of the clan was nominated for Homecoming King. He painted his trash can like a tux, and glued a tie on it because he was going to be down on the field for the halftime show. His female counterpart was all gussied up in her formal dress, and S was on the field in a "formal" trash can. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

The original clan members graduated last spring, but they came back for our first assembly this year which happened to be on the first day of school. They told the student body that they had held tryouts over the summer, and had chosen new seniors to wear the cans. Then they ceremoniously "passed the cans" on. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

I jest. But seriously, it was pretty cool to see.

There are other traditions that are starting, but the one I'd love to see continue just happened last week. October, as you are well aware, is breast cancer awareness month. In recognition of this, our kids held Pink Week. They did all sorts of cool things, and raised a lot of money for the Tri-City Cancer Center. In one week, KIDS raised $15,000 for a good cause. They wore pink all week long. It was great to see them all dressed up. They got pink hair extensions. They spray painted their hair hot pink. One of my freshman boys came to school wearing hot pink tights that his mother bought for him. Can you imagine that conversation?

Son: "Hey, Mom. Can you buy me some tights to wear to school tomorrow?"

Mom: "Tights? You know that's what girls wear under their skirts, right?"

Son: "Yeah. I know. I want pink ones."

That reminds me of the year my dad bought T boxers for Christmas. She wanted them for sleeping and lounging around the house in. But that was before they made boxers for girls...my dad was freaking out that he was buying his daughter men's underwear. But again, I digress.

Pink Week was a rousing success. My two favorite parts, though? The first is the fact that SHS teamed up with Kamiakin High School, our rivals, and worked WITH them on Pink Week. Students at both schools did fundraisers, wore pink, etc. Normally we would compete against KaHS to see who could raise the most money. But this time we worked together for a good cause. Their slogan was: One cause. One goal. One team. It still gives me shivers every time I think about it.

My other favorite part happened last Wednesday. The two high schools are 3.3 miles away from each other. The kids decided that in a show of support for those affected by cancer, they would form a human chain linking the two schools together.

That's right. They wanted to have 3.3 miles worth of people holding hands across town. How amazing is that? They worked with local police and media, and got it all set up. It was an early release Wednesday, so they decided to do it right after school. They split the route in half, so each school had to "cover" half the route. Then they split each half into fourths and assigned a class to each section (for example freshmen at SHS had from the Spirit Rock to the roundabout, seniors had from 10th to 4th Ave, etc.).

Teachers normally have meetings after school on early release Wednesdays, but our principal encouraged us to ditch the meetings and go join the kids with his blessings. I would have ditched the meetings anyway because two of my seniors (ELL students) wanted to participate but didn't have rides. But ditching with my boss' permission was even better! My friend Laurie and I took the two seniors to their spot and then joined hands with the kids. It was amazing to see how many people had come out to be a part of this event.

We found out later that employees from WinCo (a grocery store...I don't know if they are anywhere other than Eastern Wa?) who were on their break joined in as the line passed their store. They even got coworkers to join, too. Random people from the community joined up as well. I was holding hands with an elderly gentleman who was there with his wife supporting the kids. They had read about it in the newspaper and thought it was a great idea, so they came to be a part of it. A group of students from Moses Lake were in town for a leadership conference and stayed late to join in as well. The middle school that we passed by let their kids out early, and we had hundreds of middle schoolers and their parents join in, too.

The kids got lined up, and then the police stopped traffic on some pretty major streets. The community was so supportive! Nobody honked or yelled or anything. They either sat patiently in their cars, or they turned the cars off and joined up.

The leadership teacher at KaHS sent this note to our staff on Thursday, the day after the event:

"I got to my spot to direct students early and a van with a woman in pink showed up shortly after. She rolled down the window and asked me if she was in the right spot. I introduced myself and asked if she was a parent of a student? She replied, “No, I simply needed to be here.” She then told me that she had just been given her first dose of chemo and that even though she did not feel well, she felt she had to participate.” My daughter offered her a drink of water and she simply said, “No, your schools and students have done quite enough.”

It is an honor to work for, with, and among, a district that supports our students and community."

It was amazing. In spite of all their efforts, though, they were not able to complete the chain. They were so close, though! The police had to break it up early because they got calls about an armed robbery in progress. That just doesn't happen very often in this area, so it was a big deal. Most of our police force was with our kids...we didn't have "spare" cops to go handle the robbery, so we ended the chain early.

Remember the Trash Can Clan?? Well, here they are in all their pink glory. The two to the right are both in my class. They're neat boys! Very quiet in class, but not when they don their cans!

Here is a story by the local paper about the human chain.

Here is the news brief by the local paper about the armed robbery that abruptly ended our event.

Here is a photo gallery by the local paper.

With kids like this around, our future is looking bright. Check out the hair on the kid on the left! Both of these boys are in my first hour class. A, the one with the pink striped hair (that's permanent dye, by the way...he has sandy brown hair normally. He bleached it and put in hot pink stripes for Pink Week...it's faded to a pinky red color this week...), is in Leadership class and was one of the organizers of Pink Week. I'm so proud of him! K, the one in the truck, said that he was so proud of his classmates that as soon as the cops ended the line, that he and his friends jumped in the truck and drove the whole line giving people high fives.

One cause. One goal. One team.

***The pictures in this blog were all taken by Bob Brawdy, a photographer for the Tri-City Herald. I got these photos from the gallery at the Herald's web site.***