NORTHBOROUGH – “If we win, we won’t get homework for two days,” declared Mia Nicosia, an eighth-grade student at Melican Middle School.
She and her twin sister, Madison, were busy pulling packages of new socks out of a box and shouting the individual count to their Student Council advisor, who kept a tally on a classroom white board.
Julie Morancy, one of Melican Middle School’s Guidance Counselors, is also the Student Council advisor this year. She supervised the school’s recent “Student vs. Staff Sock-a-Thon” to benefit Net of Compassion in Worcester.
That group, in turn, works to support and care for those experiencing homelessness.
“We made it fun by pitting the staff against the students to see which group could donate the most socks,” Morancy said of the Sock-a-Thon in a recent interview with the Community Advocat.
Student Council programming delights students
Madison Nicosia, Mia’s twin, said that she and her sister were inspired to join Student Council this year because they knew that Morancy would make it fun. They haven’t been disappointed.
The group has held a winter door decorating contest among homerooms in addition to spirit day competitions.
Sock-a-Thon was an additional new program this year.
Students competed with staff to donate the most socks. They were also asked to guess the final count, with the closest guesser from each group winning an Amazon gift card.
“It is fun to compete, but this [also] gives us a good way to talk about giving, poverty, and homelessness among adults and children,” Morancy said. “The message is what the big picture is all about.”
Students win Sock-a-Thon
Student Council meets weekly after school. Late buses are provided.
On the very day that they completed their sock count, a handful of student council members were at desks with containers of markers, colored pencils and crayons, designing note cards with positive messages.
The notes were due to be distributed to every student at Melican on Valentine’s Day.
As for that sock count, there were 1,423 pairs of socks donated. Students won the day with 858 pairs.
That’s good news for Mia Nicosia and others. There will be no homework, after all, on March 3 and 4 as an additional reward.
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