This past holiday season students at Warren Hills went above and beyond to give back to the community. Clubs teamed up to arrange many events that spread holiday joy. The Peer Leadership program started planning their annual Peer Holiday Party for underclassmen. Senior Peer Leaders Morgan Salmon, Riley Salmon, Olivia Collum, Madison Moschonikolakis worked hard to organize games and activities for the guests.
All peer leaders and groups created gingerbread houses leading up to the party. Everyone at the party voted on the best gingerbread house and peer Group 4 came out on top with their Snoopy themed house.
Peer Leadership continued the holiday cheer by visiting the Warren County Community Senior Center. The peer leaders played games with the senior citizens to win prizes.
“It was such a heartwarming experience to talk to the older people of our community, hear their many stories, gain life advice and make memories. It was an amazing day for the peer leaders because it opened us up to new conversations and taught us the value of one on one conversations and how much it can make someone’s day,” said senior Emma Guidera.
The program also visited elementary schools in Warren County to do even more fun holiday activities and activities.
The National Honor Society (NHS) and Human Rights Club organized the successful Winter Carnival. NHS President senior Priscilla Lucci and Human Rights President senior Fiorella Piedra-Rodriguez worked hard to organize this heartwarming event.
All proceeds from the event went to “Ava’s Voice,” which is a non profit organization that supports New Jersey youth diagnosed with Usher Syndrome.
Carnival attendees were able to walk through the school and along the way they could stop to do the activities that the clubs at the school had set up. There were crafts, games and snacks.
NHS also visited the Mira Vie at Brookfield Assisted living facility in White Township to sing some Christmas Carols to the residents. The NHS left smiles on everyone’s face.
“It was nice to give back to the community. It felt like us being there and being present made their entire day,” senior Shivya Desai said.
The Warren Hills Wind Ensemble went to the Abilities of Northwest Jersey Inc in Washington to perform many different Christmas tunes for their annual Christmas party. After the event the members of the ensemble walked around to talk to the audience about holiday plans and instruments.
In order to raise money for the Project Graduation trip after the 2025 graduation to prevent drunk driving, they ran a clothing drive. Volunteers collected bags full of clothes that they then spent hours loading all of the bags into a truck to bring clothes to families in need just in time for the holiday season. The students were able to collect over 800 bags of donations which added up to be 12,318 pounds of items.
Lastly but certainly not least, many clubs had a large part in the food that was donated in the “Stuff The Bus” food collection. Boxes were placed in the classrooms of teachers that signed up to collect food for The River of Life Food Pantry. Students filled up these boxes and were able to break the record from last year.
Every year the school tries to beat the previous record and so far they have been successful.
Warren Hills is proud of the accomplishments this holiday season and wishes to increase the amount of holiday cheer each year.
“There is no group that particularly stood out, but what did stand out to me was the way our students and various groups worked together to organize, plan, and execute an event. It is amazing to see this happening,” Principal Christopher Kavcak said.