The Mark Highlights
Senior takes Command on Military donation drive Manteca High School senior Kiersten Melan initiated a collection drive to support military troops as a way to give back to our brave men and women who serve. Knowing he wanted to initiate a project that supported a greater purpose, he thought to himself, “What better way to serve my community than by giving back to those who are serving our country?” Kiersten shared. Last year, Kiersten considered joining the military himself. “When I went to all of the recruiter offices in Manteca to learn more about joining the military, I asked every recruiter what they thought about care packages,” shared Kiersten. “I learned that most service members love Gatorade chewables and deodorant.” According to Kiersten, it was easy to get 30 | Community
people involved. He shared his initiative with the Manteca High community by broadcasting through the school’s morning announcements. Ms. Nina Norton, Kiersten’s History teacher, was instrumental in the initiation of this project and explained that Kiersten made a great effort to get staff and teachers involved by asking them to place donation boxes in their classrooms or offices. “The support for the military is very high at MHS, and the response by our MHS family was strong,” said Ms. Norton. “Kiersten was responsible for giving our students and staff an opportunity to say thank you to the soldiers.” Kiersten ordered free boxes from the post office and found boxes laying around. He taped a list of suggested items onto each box.
The Manteca high community collected six boxes in varying sizes to be donated to the military troops. “Six boxes might not seem like a lot, but I’d say the amount we collected would be enough to make anyone’s day,” expressed Kiersten. Kiersten initially thought he would send the packages directly to Iraq and Afghanistan. But looking at the USPS rates, he knew he had to be resourceful. Until one day, he came across a flyer when volunteering at Doctor’s Hospital in Manteca. “I saw this flyer that advertised care package donations. I took one look at the name “Palmer” on the flyer and I knew I was set,” said Kiersten. “When I was a 5th grader at Joshua Cowell in 2011, my classmate Genevieve Florez and her mom who was a teacher, had the brilliant idea of creating an event known as Patriot Day. Our principal at the time, Ms. Bonnie Bennett, touched
