Hamilton High School Steps Up This Holiday Season

The truly held out a helping hand during this holiday season, but takes the cake. Students and staff at the school got in the holiday spirit and generously donated to the community making the district a better place to live.

The following is a summary of the multiple activities the high school participated in:

Hamilton DECA, a business-marketing student organization, took holiday presents to first grade students in Milwaukee at Gaenslen Elementary School. Each first-grader received a gift bag from a DECA member who then spent about an hour with the first-graders, playing with their gifts and enjoying holiday refreshments.

Spanish Club adopted two Hispanic families, with seven children total, through the Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County. Students in all Spanish classes donated a total of $1,542.06 to purchase gifts for the families including winter jackets, clothing, toys, books and gift cards. Spanish Club members wrapped the gifts and the officers delivered them to the families.
Communication Arts 10 students helped the Student Council with a letter and card writing drive for troops in Afghanistan who are away from loved ones during the holiday season.

Hamilton School Student Council adopted two families through the Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County. Both families are single-parent households, one with three children and the other with one child. Student Council members joined together to shop, and then students met to wrap the gifts. Gifts were delivered to the parent of each family by the advisor.

Student Council also sponsored the annual No Shave Novembeard campaign during November. Hamilton males pledged to go unshaven during November. Each participant obtained sponsors, usually other students, who pledged an amount for each day the young man does not shave. Sponsors could also giveo a flat donation at the end of the month. Proceeds were donated to Pancreatic Cancer Research.

Club Action raised $950 with Rock Fest this year and donated some of the money to Red Cross for Japanese tsunami relief efforts. The remainder of the money went to support recycling at the school. Food items for the were also collected at Rock Fest. A book drive collected gently-used children’s books for the Next Door Foundation which provides books to Milwaukee-area children in poverty.

Freshman Seminar sponsored an 11-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl through the Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County and bought items on a wish list provided by their mothers.

To help people who are less fortunate and in the spirit of the German Martin’s Day tradition, the Hamilton German Club collected more than 500 gently-worn sweaters and other clothes and donated them to Red Door Clothes, which distributes them to Waukesha County families in need.

The National Honor Society NHS of 100-percent juice for needy families in the Milwaukee area. The juice and $2,000 went to support the Hunger Task Force. NHS members then went to the Hunger Task Force to help them with their day-before-Thanksgiving food drive. More than two dozen students spent the day unloading approximately 25,000 pounds of donated food from cars and trucks. Because people were in the spirit of giving, they also donated several hundred dollars that day to NHS students who then forwarded those funds to the Hunger Task Force.

Hamilton Library’s “Snowflakes of Hope” program collected items for families in need. Club members of A Novel Idea Book Group, Project Caring and Caring Kids accepted donations for the and Project Concern in Cudahy. They donated sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, mittens, toiletries and gently-used clothing.
Offices A, B, C, Publications and Health Room – High school staff members adopted two families in lieu of exchanging gifts with one another, providing them with many items to brighten their holidays including wrapped gifts of toys, games, clothing, personal items, household goods and gift cards for families in need.