Palmer students hope to take East Coast trip

I am in the leadership class at Palmer Junior Middle School. We are eighth-graders with a grade point average of 3.5 or above and most of us are members of the National Junior Honor Society. Our group is trying to raise enough funds to go to Close Up, a trip taking 31 of us to Washington, D.C., and New York City from April 24 through May 1. We will go to museums and famous Washington landmarks, learn about the government and take in a Broadway play.

PJMS will be the first middle school in the Mat-Su Valley to attend Close Up, so this is both very exciting and important to all of us. Those of us planning to go on this trip have been busy raising money to pay our expenses.

Within the next few months we will have many fund-raising activities. We will be selling See’s Candy at the Palmer Fred Meyer and Three Bears on Feb. 6, 7, 12 and 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

We have just started a Dairy Queen takeover, which began Jan. 12. We will alternate Tuesdays and Thursdays every week through April 15. This takeover is from 4 to 7 p.m. or 3 to 6 p.m., depending on the date, and we will serve food and clean tables.

On March 20, our leadership class will be providing a Service Day and everyone is invited to take advantage of our services. We will provide massages, food, haircuts, shoe shines and Palmer backpacks. There will be an auction, including a brand new, never-used Wii. There will be many other activities in which to participate, so come and join the fun.

We have volunteered many hours supporting our community. Many of us have helped with Halloween Hallow, providing a fun, safe and candy-filled night for younger children to play with their friends and family. All the money raised was given to Toys for Tots, which buys toys for the less fortunate families during Christmas. The NJHS and Leadership class have also participated in the Special Santa program (which is run by Toys for Tots). Our principal let us take time out of our busy school day to head to Wal-Mart, where we bought $9,000 worth of toys, school supplies and clothes for the families in need. After our giant shopping spree, we went to Santa’s Workshop, where we unpacked and sorted all the items before filling out the wish lists of the people who had applied for the gifts.

We also run the school concession stand during all our games here at PJMS. We will work throughout every sport, so come on down and eat some snacks while you watch a great game.

As you can see, we are all working hard and everyone is very excited about this upcoming trip. For more information on any of these projects and fundraisers, please contact Mrs. Osiensky at 761-4307.

Katie Halley is an eighth-grader at Palmer Junior Middle School.