By: Rebecca Miller
Friendship, competition and laughter reigned at Hilltop on Friday, September 20, 2019 as the students of the West Unity schools enjoyed this year’s homecoming activities. Each year on the day of the Homecoming Football Game, the students spend the afternoon outside enjoying a Field Day with games and competition amongst classes, but this year is different than the Field Days in the past, because coinciding with their fun, is some serious business.
Brianna Bell, Miss West Unity 2019 and a 17 year old senior at Hilltop High School, connected with the High School Student Council, to add a special feature this year. Coinciding with their homecoming festivities, they ran a “Schools Against Cancer” Relay. The event involved the elementary school and the high school and was modeled after the Relay for Life that is done at the Fairs in the area.
All week long, prior to the event, the students brought change to school which will be donated to Williams County Relay for Life. Creative thinking made it a lot of fun for them, as they didn’t just bring the money, but got to put it in the jar of whichever of sixteen teachers they would like to see get a pie in the face!
Two teachers, Mr. Eric Cooper, the band teacher, and Mr. Moore, the Jr. High History Teacher were only one penny apart, when the money was all counted. Cooper ended up being the one to get pie’d right before the big lap, by Homecoming King Blake Funkhauser and Queen Kendall Roth. The students cheered heartily before following Brianna and Little Miss West Unity, Braydee Hatfield, to start the Relay for Life lap.
Besides the Pie in the Face contest money raised, there was also a classroom competition going on to see what room could collect the largest amount of coins. Brianna gathered them all on Thursday and reported to the Student Council Advisor so that the money could be translated into points and added to their total score from the games of the day. Overall, the Hilltop students raised nearly $800. Way to go Miss West Unity for spearheading this way to help others, and Way to go, Hilltop for stepping up!
The Elementary class that collected the most money was Mrs. Steffes’ 5th Grade and in the High School the Sophomores had the most. The Senior Class won the Field Day games, gathering the most points for the day. No matter who won, it looked like all were having a great time.
When asked how she came up with the idea to add a Relay for Life run against cancer to the schools Homecoming Field Day, Brianna shared, “In 2006 I joined the C and B Tigers Relay for Life team. Throughout the years of relay it has become really important to me and then also some family members have had cancer. When I got crowned Miss West Unity this past summer I saw it as a forum from which I could do something to help others.”
She began planning this event soon after she was crowned. “The Relay for Life organization has done a lot for me in showing me how good it feels to help someone else,” Brianna said. Her parents Jim and Kristy Bell and her siblings Colleen and Jimmy also run with the C and B Tigers, a group started years ago to run in Relays for Life, by Barb and Charlie Green. Having this good influence in her life has certainly given her a vision and an understanding of how “everyone can do something.”
Rebecca may be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com