TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Seven National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) students at St. John Lutheran School organized a service project called Cereal Box Dominoes in March. Sherry Koch, who teaches 6-8 grade Language Arts at the school and is the NJHS student advisor, said the students wrote and made announcements so the entire school could participate.
“For nearly three weeks, students collected cereal in their classrooms,” she said. “It was a competition to see which class would bring the most boxes. Enthusiasm grew, and 543 boxes were collected.”
“The third grade got first place by collecting 165 boxes!” she added.
The service project culminated in a schoolwide game of Cereal Box Dominoes on Friday, Mar. 26, 2021. Students organized and set up the 543 cereal boxes like dominoes throughout the halls of the school. Students lined the halls watching from the sidelines. “Then came the chain reaction knocking down procedure,” Ms. Koch said. “It was a success! Students watched and cheered!”
As the boxes were collected and set up, one student was heard to exclaim: “ I want to try this at home!”
“This project ties into our school theme of serving others,” Ms. Koch said. The school donated to the Merrill Food Pantry in November, she said. And many organizations typically donate around the Thanksgiving holiday when the community is reminded that there are others in our community who are struggling.
But “the need still exists at all times of the year,” Ms. Koch explained. “Often in a food drive, many cans of vegetables are collected. We decided to bless the food pantry with something different.” The 543 boxes of cereal collected were donated to the Merrill Food Pantry.
St. John Lutheran School in Merrill recently formed the chapter of the National Junior Honor Society at their school for students in grades 6-8. Membership is through a detailed application process, according to Ms. Koch.
Keeley Benedict, a 7th grader and Vice President of the NJHS chapter at St. John Lutheran School, said, “Just because we are a small school does not mean we can’t do big things!” Indeed, 543 boxes of cereal donated to the Merrill Food Pantry is a pretty big thing.
