With over 200 participants, the National Honor Society teacher supply drive gave school supplies to over 80 teachers. The drive occurred on January 21st, and was the first ever NHS school supply drive.

According to the NHS President, senior Lois Xie, the drive’s aim was to help teachers prepare for the second semester when they are usually running low on school supplies.

“Lots of teachers are asking for supplies over winter break and it’s always kind of a hard time,” Xie said. “For example, they’re running out of Expo markers, they’re running out of ink, and so on.”

Once the drive donations had been gathered, NHS members organized the items into bags and delivered them to the teachers. Overall, Xie said the drive was successful, and was appreciated by its recipients.

“They all said, ‘Thank you,’ in all caps,” Xie said. “So, it was very heartwarming.”

For senior Kathryn Hale, it felt good to give back to teachers and the school.

“I had Mr. Bradshaw…and he’s helped me a lot, just in the fine arts department, so it was really nice to talk to him and help him out with his second semester,” said Hale.

Along with the school supplies, one of the most popular donations from participants in the drive was candy and snacks for teachers to share with students.

“I’ve had a couple kids I’ve shared [the candy] with. I’m like, ‘You need a piece of candy?’” said band director Eric Bradshaw

However, the drive was not only successful at putting more candy into circulation. Xie said that NHS made a lasting impact on the Free State community.

“I would definitely want to continue this, because it feels like the community as a whole, at Free State, really appreciated it, especially the teachers,” said Xie.