Shawn Nowlin

It all started in September when Glenvar Middle School Student Council Association (SCA) sponsor Trevor Ruble and National Junior Honor Society Katie Deal came up with an idea to collect socks and other needed supplies for the local rescue mission.

Principal Josh Whitlow was immediately on board with his kids participating in the Socktober Drive. It was Deal, the school’s Instructional Coach, who recommended supporting the Rescue Mission.

Part of Katie’s job is to “bring evidence-based practices into classrooms by working with teachers and other school leaders.” Since 2015, she has served as the Glenvar Middle School National Junior Honor Society sponsor. Collecting toys for the Community Christmas Store and pet food for Angels of Assisi are just some of the service projects that she organizes.

During the drive, which occurred the first week of this month, students created posters, organized boxes and made announcements to encourage their peers to get involved.

“We decided to hold Socktober throughout Homecoming because we wanted to build off of the excitement during spirit week,” both Deal and Ruble said.

It wasn’t until she participated in Socktober that Deal gained a new perspective on just how vital items like socks are to homeless shelters. “We decided to hold a friendly teacher competition to see which grade level team could bring in the most pairs of underwear. When I spoke to the Rescue Mission about donating socks, they told me they were also in need of underwear and this was our way of helping,” she said.

Ruble, a Social Studies teacher, has been the SCA faculty representative for the last four years. He facilitates meetings and encourages students to initiate and lead service projects throughout the school and community.

“We are extremely proud of our students for coming together to meet a common goal and help those who are less fortunate in our community,” he said. “SCA will be holding a canned food drive from October 21 through November 1. The goal is to collect 1,000 nonperishable food items for a local food pantry.”

Approximately 1,400 pairs of socks were ultimately collected during the Socktober event. Said Principal Whitlow, “Our sixth graders brought in the most pairs of new socks with a total of 555. Seventh graders brought in 430 new pairs of socks. The eighth grade supported this meaningful civic opportunity with 406 pairs of new socks.”

Glenvar Middle School has the same goals for all its students: to emphasize the importance of leadership, service and give back to those in need.