Carly Anderson

Health teacher Katelyn McCreary’s fifth hour class raises money for Kids Under Twenty One.

For the first time, Health teacher Katelyn McCreary’s fifth hour class sold slime during first and second lunch for $1 to raise money for Kids Under Twenty One (KUTO).

KUTO is a non-profit organization that helps and informs teens about depression, anxiety and suicide. The organization visited McCreary’s health class to educate the students about these topics, which inspired the class to raise money for the cause.

“It’s something that affects so many people, and there’s a lot of people that don’t realize it’s affecting so many people until something actually happens to you,” sophomore Bella Hatzigeorgiou said. “Just raising awareness for it helps to make everybody know it’s a real thing.”

In addition to selling slime, each table, consisting of McCreary’s entire fifth hour health class, provided candy and asked students to write down healthy coping mechanisms. One table featured a bowling game located directly outside the cafeteria to attract students. The class was hoping to sell out of slime before the end of second lunch.

“It was much more successful than I had planned, and the results completely blew my expectations out of the water,” McCreary said.

This is the first time KUTO has visited West’s health classes, replacing a similar organization that used to work with our health classes, still advocating for the seriousness of mental disorders like anxiety and depression. Following this year’s event, McCreary hopes to continue the new tradition next year.

“Yes we would love to have this type of fundraiser either every semester or annually, in addition to involving the other health classes,” McCreary said. “We haven’t counted our total amount earned yet but the last time I checked we were at $160 and are expecting much more as I finish.”

This was the first time McCreary has organized a fundraising event like like this with KUTO.

“We went in with thought of helping the community because it’s always helping us [West High] and students were able to help out fellow classmates with positive coping mechanisms for school,” McCreary said.