We are part of The Trust Project.
A recent article written by Jordan Shearer on Dec. 12, 2022, repetitively turned all three high schools' efforts to give back to the community into a shallow, competition-driven event. All of the fundraisers at Mayo, John Marshall, and Century have been projects that take much planning and forethought to ensure their success at helping local charities.
However, the article blatantly undermines each school’s true objective of the unification of all three schools. Rather, the high schools are portrayed as actively competing against each other, and how “Mayo has a standing to protect” followed by direct comparison of amounts raised with John Marshall and Century.
Although competition is fun and can be a driving factor for students to fund-raise, the article makes it seem as though it is the sole reason why we take such endeavors. It is highly doubtful that Bear Creek Services, Dorothy Day Hospitality House, and Christmas Anonymous particularly care which school raised the most money.
If the article had taken time away from pitting the schools against each other to explain the importance of the charities, then all three schools would know that their job to educate the public on giving back has been accomplished. But clearly there is another lesson to be taught, and we will begin it by affirming that it is not a competition. What we do is for the community and each other, so that everyone understands the importance of standing together and producing results beneficial to all.
Anousha Mozammel, Rochester
