Soaring to new heights
Monday, February 26, 2007 11:27 AM PST
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| Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer
Adrian High School senior Sarah McPeak works on yearbook layout at the school Tuesday. McPeak, who is also yearbook editor and class president, organized the ‘Mr. AHS Pageant’ for her senior project, donating all funds from the event to an AHS graduate and cancer patient for medical costs.
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Jennifer Colton
Argus Observer
Adrian
Adrian High School senior Sarah McPeak pushed senior projects to new heights when she designed, organized and emceed a “Mr. AHS” pageant last month at Adrian High School — raising more than $2,300 for a cancer patient.
The idea started with the requirements for AHS senior projects, where students choose a career and then complete job shadowing, a physical project and a research paper on that career.
McPeak chose public relations.
“This here just took senior projects to a whole other level,” Geary Johnson, AHS teacher and McPeak’s project advisor, said last week. “Often kids do a project in their own interest. What Sarah did was in someone else’s interest. Not too many high school students consider that.”
Early on, McPeak planned to raise money for an Adrian High School graduate, Hermalinda Dominguez-Bautista, 24, who has two young children and was recently diagnosed with cancer.
“I first wanted to do a run or walk-a-thon type thing, but it was getting toward the colder part of the year,” McPeak said. “Then I just carried that over when I decided to do the pageant.”
McPeak’s project — the lavish Mr. AHS Pageant — involved male students at the high school competing as if in a Miss America-styled beauty pageant, complete with gowns, talents and humor.
McPeak was responsible for marketing the event, sending out flyers and posters, contacting the school newspaper and newsletter and finding willing participants.
“I had to start with getting the boys to sign up,” McPeak said. “Then I made them packets so they could get sponsor money.”
She also organized the decorations and a potato feed. Decorations for the feed were provided by Janice Simpson, while potatoes were donated by Dennis and Juline Bowns and chili was donated by Red Apple, Ontario, and M & W, Nyssa. She said she planned enough food for 150 people — with the expectation she would have some food left over.
“It was well attended — I think it was about 160 people,” Johnson said. “It may not seem like a lot, but in our community, that is.”
Between ticket sales, sponsorships and a donation bucket, McPeak raised more that $2,300, and some donations are still coming in, Johnson said. McPeak said much of her success was because of her parents and the community members who donated items and attended the event.
“I think it turned out a lot better than I expected,” she said. “I was worried that enough people would come, but they filled up the stands.”
The community now provides support for the AHS senior projects in many ways, Johnson said, but in the beginning it was a struggle.
“The first year, kids really fought it, parents did too,” Johnson said. “Now I hear juniors and even sophomores talking about what they’re going to do for their project. It’s had a positive impact.”
This is Adrian High School’s sixth year requiring senior projects, and the 28 students in the class of 2007, including McPeak, will present their projects — as varied as teaching a lesson in an elementary classroom, diabetes testing, patio construction and Web site design — before a panel of judges May 4.
“We’ve tweaked it over the years,” Johnson said. “Last summer we sat down and discussed what we could do better. We’ll do that again this year. They’ve just gotten better and better each year.”
Both Johnson and Pam Myers, another AHS teacher and McPeak’s physical project mentor, said they hope another student will take on the Mr. AHS Pageant next year.
“We’re hoping that this pageant that Sarah started will continue,” Myers said. McPeak, who also plays basketball and volleyball and is FFA president, class president and yearbook editor, plans to attend Treasure Valley Community College in the fall, after signing a letter of intent Wednesday.
“Often you see kids recognized for athletics,” Johnson said. “I think what Sarah did here for her project, for the community, it should be recognized.”
