Over the next couple of weeks, students in Freedom High School's CAMPUS program will be collecting something that the troops in Iraq really need: Silly String.
During Freedom's last home basketball game against Briar Woods, the students will collect cans of Silly String from attendees. In return, attendees who bring the string will receive a $1 discount on their admission fee. In addition, the CAMPUS students are holding a class competition at Freedom. The class that brings in the most cans of Silly String will receive free tickets to the Feb. 9 game.
"We have 90 free tickets to give away," Sam Steen, CAMPUS' guidance counselor, said.
CAMPUS, which stands for College Achievement, a Minority Program for Unique Students, is a program for students of color and those who are first-generation college applicants, but has developed into a program that teaches students about many aspects of real life.
THE IDEA TO send Silly String to the troops came from a television news story, that CAMPUS facilitator and business teacher Janice Johnson saw over the Christmas holiday, about Marcelle Shicer, a New Jersey office manager and Army mother, whose son asked for the toy to be included in any care packages his mother sent to him.
According to the report that Johnson saw, the child's toy is being used by soldiers to unearth potentially dangerous situations. When they approach a doorway, the soldiers let the Silly String go from a distance of up to 10 feet. The light weight of the string allows soldiers to detect any trip wires that may be spread across a doorway and connected to bombs.
"I never have heard of this kind of community service before," Johnson said. "It was different and interesting; the little bit that we can do to help them and possibly save a life."
THE STUDENTS' FIRST reaction to the story and the idea for their service project, which is required by the CAMPUS program, was disbelief, freshman Jordan Love said.
"The objective is to get students involved in service learning," Steen said. "We try to get them as hands-on as possible."
After viewing the clip themselves, the students got to work. The first order of business was to verify that the story was true and locating Shicer. The students found Shicer through a New Jersey church and verified that they were indeed collecting both Silly String and monetary donations.
"They thought it was great that we were helping here in Virginia," freshman Phallyn Thomas said.
ORIGINALLY THE students had planned on gathering most of the monetary donations from local businesses in South Riding. Freshman Harleen Bhatti's father owns a dollar store in Chantilly, where the group plans on purchasing as much Silly String as possible.
"He wanted to help," Bhatti said. "He doesn't have any problems with charity projects and helping people out. He is open to all ideas."
As the students began cold calling businesses in the South Riding area, however, they found that their service project was not going to be an easy one.
"We had originally planned to get them by getting [the businesses] to come here and giving them the presentation and proposal," Bhatti said. "But we had a hard time convincing them to come."
Love said it was hard for him and his fellow students to convince the local businesses to take them seriously.
"It was really hard to get the companies," he said. "They don't believe [the project] is real."
Steen said that he and Johnson did not intercede on the students' behalf when they began having problems with the businesses because they wanted the teens to learn real-life skills.
"In life you're not always successful," he said. "And we teach them life lessons, which aren't always fair."
WHEN IT BECAME clear that the original plan was not going to be successful on its own, the students began to adjust their project, looking for other ways to encourage people to take part, including the class contest. The students are even working on convincing Mercer Middle School to take part in collecting cans.
"They are a little worried that middle-schoolers and Silly String don't mix," Steen said.
Only Caribou Coffee and Tropical Smoothie agreed to take part in the Silly String drive, the students said, but they are hoping that other businesses will take part when they realize they are serious about the project.
"They have really stepped up to getting the work done," Johnson said. "They've been the ones coming up with new ideas and making it successful."
"We're proud of these students here," Steen said. "We're hard on them, but we love them. This is the hardest project they have done."
THE STUDENTS HAVE set a goal of collecting 1,000 cans of Silly String, but they believe the project has already been beneficial for them.
"It is teaching us how to run an organization, how to talk to upper management," Love said.
Freshman Cindy Tran said the project has given her real-life skills such as how to write a proposal, something the students had to present to Principal Christine Forester as well as local businesses and how to get comfortable talking to people over the phone.
"It also helps us with college applications with our community service," she said.
No matter how many cans the students end up collecting to send to New Jersey, Thomas said there is one thing that makes them all proud of the work that they have done.
"It is great to know that we are helping the troops in Iraq," she said.