EIGHTH GRADER RUNS 5TH ANNUAL SOCK DRIVE

For the fifth year in a row, Javi Swinarski ’26 organized a sock drive for the homeless. As a fourth grader, Javi learned on a service trip to John Carroll that socks are the most requested item in homeless shelters. So, weeks later, he launched a sock drive at the Lower School, which brought in more than 1,000 pairs of socks for the homeless. Now an eighth grader, he has expanded his drive to the Lower School, Middle School and Upper School and his goal gets larger each year in hopes of helping even more people. In addition to the socks donated from the Gilmour community, Javi gets sock donations from friends out of town and also writes letters to sock companies to collect even more. He had a goal of collecting 3,500 pairs of socks and was happy to report he surpassed his goal and collected 4,618 pairs! Javi delivered the socks to St. Philomena Church, in Cleveland, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

Asked why he gives of his time each year to do this, Javi said, “It makes me really happy to know that somewhere, somebody is enjoying new, warm socks. After my service trip in fourth grade, I wanted to make it a real deal at Gilmour. I learned that day that if your feet are cold, you are cold.” He continued, “I knew I could help by truly living the GA mission. The best part of the sock drive every year is seeing the happy faces when I deliver 40 bags of socks! The Gilmour community is so generous and they make the sock drive great! I'm looking forward to making it even bigger next year!”

Eighth Grader

LEADS BY EXAMPLE

Just Write Teams Fare Well at Regional Competition,

SEVEN QUALIFY AT STATE LEVEL

Just before Christmas Break, Gilmour’s writing team competed in the Just Write Regional Competition at Cloverleaf High School. The Division I (underclassmen) team included Libby Cornette ’24, Rachael Stasick ’24, Katie Coyne ’24, Samantha Stutler ’24 and Ruby Johnson ’25, and the Division 2 (upperclassmen) team included Lily Elseser ’22, Kristen Oliveto ’22, Kaylee Oliveto ’22, Elena Espenschied ’22, Victoria Dulzer ’22 and Sarah Voss ’22 .

Coached by Mrs. Farmer and Mr. Simon, the Gilmour Academy Just Write team took third place overall among 15 schools. Led by seniors Kristen and Kaylee Oliveto, the Division 1 (underclassmen) team placed third out of 13 schools and Division 2 (upperclassmen) placed fifth out of 14 schools. Individually, Rachael Stasick placed first and Libby Cornette placed sixth in Division 1 and Kristen Oliveto placed 14th in Division 2. Ruby Johnson won the Poetry Laureate Award for her poem, Treasure's Price.

Additionally, Libby Cornette, Ruby Johnson, Rachael Stasick and Samantha Stutler qualified for the Division 1 state competition and Kaylee Oliveto, Kristen Oliveto and Sarah Voss qualified for the Division 2 state competition, which was held at press time at the University of Findlay. Stay tuned for details!