Students support a tornado-damaged school with same name
The similarities are striking.
Both schools are named Shawnee High, both principals have the name Matthew and both schools’ colors are blue and white.
So it’s only fitting that the staff and students at Shawnee in Medford are helping staff and students at Shawnee High in Shawnee, Oklahoma, whose community was devastated by tornadoes in April.
The Medford Shawnee students approached their Principal Matthew Campbell with their desire to “do something to help” So Campbell reached out to Principal Matthew Johnson at Oklahoma’s Shawnee High.
In his email to Johnson, Campbell wrote, “The students of Shawnee in New Jersey wanted to coordinate a drive to help the students of Shawnee in Oklahoma.”
That drive – coordinated through the Students Actively Concerned Club – will send donations of money and supplies directly to the Shawnee school, located, appropriately enough, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
“It is amazing to see how fast our students created a call to action,” Campbell noted. “I could not be more proud to see this groundswell of desire to help on the part of our students here at Shawnee High School.
Given the schools’ similarities, “this does not feel like something that we are supposed to do, but rather something that we are meant to do,” he added.
In a short video, student Hannah Short explains the Students Actively Concerned Club’s donation drive as Shawnee Renegades helping Shawnee Wolves.
“It’s a school that has the same name as us, but the difference is they don’t have a school to go to anymore,” added Short, whose video has photos of the tornado damage.
“We at Medford Shawnee High School want to help support Oklahoma Shawnee High School in their time of need.”
To make a donation or learn more about the relief initiative, visit www.lrhsd.org/ShawneeHelpingShawnee. The website includes ways to donate, either through an Amazon wish list or a SchoolCash link for monetary gifts. Supplies can also be dropped off directly at Shawnee.
Medford, that is.
