No Shave November

National Honor Society members begin fundraising

Lainey Akins akinslai000@hsestudents.org

National Honor Society (NHS) has begun their fundraising project some of the teachers and the students have for raising money,” Schulhof said. “I remember one called ‘No Shave November,’ which is dedicated to collecting money for Indiana’s Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide. e members do a variety of things to help collect money. Spanish teacher Elizabeth Schulhof is the sponsor of NHS and is the main contributor to how ‘No Shave November’ is planned and organized. “You’re put into teams with teachers and each team is supposed to raise as much money as possible,” Schulhof said. “It’s sort of a tournament style to see which team can raise the most money. At the end, we count it all up and see how much money we raised.” e teams typically consist of ve to six NHS students, alongside a male and female teacher. Teachers grow beards to raise money, while the students collect money in buckets that are kept at their desk. Junior Jennifer Jo became a member of NHS this year, making this her rst time participating in ‘No Shave November’. “[NHS] makes each student pick up a bucket and then you take that bucket and you start collecting money,” Jo said. “ ere can be various ways to collect money. Our group was thinking of selling baked goods at sports games.” e teams brainstorm ways to meet their fundraising goals, and each team’s strategies are di erent. is year, NHS is focusing on incorporating the students in the creative process. “I love seeing the creativity that teacher a few years ago told his kids that if he raised a certain amount of money, he would do cartwheels all the way down the hallway.” Along with the increase in the involvement of the NHS students, they are also utilizing other methods of fundraising. Senior Gri n Chesebrough is co-president of NHS and is working to help improve ‘No Shave November.’ “We’re o ering people to use certain things like or selling cookies on their own,” Chesebrough said. “ roughout the month, we’re gonna be trying to give more opportunities to our members so that they can be more creative [and it is a] more fun experience for all people involved.” Previously NHS students were required to turn in their collected donations each day, but the club has decided to transition to weekly turn-ins instead. Schulhof hopes to collect even more money than last year. “I think last year we raised somewhere around $11,000, so I would love to surpass that and possibly get $12,000 or even more,” Schulhof said. e money that is going to Indiana’s Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide, will help educate people on how to recognize signs of abuse to prevent dangerous situations from fully forming. “We wanted to do something that was obviously related to youth, rather than supporting an adult because [the students at our school] are our youth,” Schulhof said. e ‘Riley Dance Marathon’ club is dedicated to fundraising for Riley hospitals, so Schulhof believed it was important to donate to other organizations as well. “We didn’t want to do anything related to Riley because we feel like Riley gets a lot of attention, not just in our school, but in many schools,” Schulhof said. “ e other reason why we selected this particular organization is because so many youth now a days are struggling with depression and are at higher risk of suicide, so we felt like that was a good cause to support.” While the NHS students’ main task is fundraising, leaders of NHS are working to make sure every member can be involved in helping the cause through di erent e orts. “We try to make it so that even if you don’t have money to donate or if you aren’t someone who loves begging your friends for money, there’s opportunities for you to actually be involved through things like counting money a er school or through selling things,” Chesebrough said. ‘No Shave November’ is an ideal example of what NHS stands for and what their mission ultimately is. At the end of the day, the organization serves to help others without anything in return to ensure people receive the help and resources they need. “I’m most excited about helping the cause for suicide prevention, [and] also the joy that comes out of raising money for a good cause,” Jo said. Junior Lily Sharp with a No Shave November fundraising bucket on Oct. 28. Photo by Lainey Akins.