Throughout the past few weeks, a group from Mrs. Light’s AP English Language class have been planning to hold a food and clothing drive as a part of their class project. The students were assigned to produce a persuasive media campaign in which they persuaded citizens to become aware of and involved in a topic of their choice.

“We chose poverty as our topic because it’s something that people all over the world suffer from, and we think our classmates can really help us make an impact on at least a few people’s lives,” junior Brenda Gallardo said.

The group has five students: Gallardo, and juniors Alexis Compton, Emily Maldonado, Roxana Elias, and Alyssa Sandel. They set up a table in the cafeteria during all lunches to have a spot for students to donate. During the past week, they accepted donations of canned food, clothing, toys, money and toiletries.

“Our goal is to collect items and money to donate to a homeless shelter,” Gallardo said.

Along with them being in the cafeteria, they also allow students to drop their donations off in the library, room 1134, the front office, or to any group member directly.

“We wanted to give students an opportunity to donate as much as possible, and have multiple drop-off places so it would encourage them to donate,” Compton said.

Throughout the week, the group reviewed a few donations and extended the deadline to donate. Students and faculty members will have an opportunity to help put an end to poverty in our community by donating until April 30.