Staff

Juniors Rachel Brown and Gabby Rath sit outside of Jeff Chazen’s room after being kicked out of their fifth hour AP Government class for donating Easy Mac to Team Wayland. “It was totally worth it because Wayland gave us good food and we still learned what we needed to know from the hall. I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Brown said.

On Dec. 3, the History Department began a collection drive for Circle of Concern. The drive was oriented with the Modern United States History unit over the Great Depression and with the holidays. This winter drive is unlike other drives in that it is a competition amongst the department and is split into two teams, Team Annie Wayland and Team Jeff Chazen. Amongst Wayland’s team are teachers, Rita Wylie, Teresa America, Jim Hermann, Zaven Nalbandian and Valerie Townsend. The opposing Team Chazen consists of John Wright, Lara Boles, Kristen Collins and Nancy Sachtleben. The teams have an even number of Modern United States History teachers in order to insure that no side is given an advantage.

“We decided to donate to Circle of Concern because they service Parkway, Rockwood and Valley Park school districts. We liked that we would be helping out our own community,” Wayland said.

The drive asks for students to bring in cash or change, canned goods, personal care items and winter wear items. The goal for their drive is for each team to collect 1,000 goods. All students are encouraged to donate. Students are also cautioned on which side to donate to.

“Unlike Mr. Chazen, the staff members on our side know to use inside voices. Chazen’s insistence on playing certain songs on repeat (Foster the People’s Pumped Up Kicks) is grounds for completely annihilating his team in this competition,” America said.

Both sides are taking place in smack-talk in order to get the hype up about donating.

“If people need to tear me down to build themselves up, I’ll gladly serve that role and sacrifice myself on the alter of humility,” Chazen said.

Some students have both Wayland and Chazen as teachers. So who should they donate to?

“Some of Chazen’s students continue to donate towards my team just so he loses. In fact, his classes have brought in a large amount of goods for us, which I greatly appreciate. Students who have both Chazen and me have allied and have chosen the good side,” Wayland said.

Students should tread carefully on their team lines. Juniors Gabby Rath and Rachel Brown take Chazen’s fifth hour AP Government class. However, both Brown and Rath chose to donate roughly 20 boxes of Easy Mac to Team Wayland.

“It’s more fun to mess with Chazen than give him cans,” Rath said.

While it might have been more fun to “mess” with Chazen, was it worth it?

“Chazen found out about our plans to donate to Wayland so he threatened to kick us out the next day if we revealed his plans on how to destroy the other team. He found out, but so did Wayland. Wayland warned us that we would be ‘kicked out’ of his class that day and promised us to bring us desks and food,” Rath said.

Whichever side a student chooses to donate to does not matter because both teams have the same end-goal in mind: helping the community.

“People should donate because it is the season of giving. Ultimately, we want to do good in the world,” Chazen said.

The History Department was hopeful that the competition between teachers would bring in more products for their collection.

“It is an opportunity for us to give back. If a healthy competition brings in more goods for a good cause, then that is even better,” Wayland said.

If you are interested in making a donation, do so before Friday, Dec. 14. Donations will be taken to the Circle of Concern Friday afternoon.