MORGANTOWN — Members of Morgantown High School Student Council put their heads together and came up with a new fundraiser.
Gretchen Gibson, student council sponsor, and MHS teacher, said from 2009-2017 Mylan Pharmacueticals had a grant program giving the school $10,000 a year, and wanted the student council to be in charge of where the money went.
This money helped fund different activities for faculty and students alike.
“Last spring, we found out the funding would not continue. We were appreciative of all those years but there was no more funding, and so we kind of had to wrack our brains for something we could do,” she said.
Alongside the student council, there is also the MHS Foundation. Started by retired teachers years ago, it is comprised of former teachers, current teachers, community members and students who are looking for ways to improve things at MHS.
“It’s a lot of different people needing a lot of different things. Teachers want to go to national conferences or trainings. Students will want to go to national competitions and things like that, and there’s just not funding,” Gibson said.
With the challenge present, the students thought “why not start a new tradition?”
Saturday will be the first year of the Mohigan Strawberry 5K Run & Walk. It’s being held in conjunction with the annual strawberry sale done by the Mohigan Marching Foundation, and it’s hoped the 5K will bring in $10,000 to replace the Mylan grant.
There’s a 5K run with prizes, a non-competitive 5K walk and a children’s fun run.
Gibson said the Wow! Factory will be there doing face painting. Finally, there will be an after-race mixer to conclude the event and strawberry shortcake will be served. She said it will be an all-around fun event for the whole family.
The MHS Student Council raises money for other causes, too. Mohigan Idol raises funds for WVU Medicine Children’s, Kindness Week and School Spirit Week gets money for area charities and food banks. Members also often make cookies and visit the elderly, and they do it with their own time and money.
“They know from all those years of running the Mylan grant how many financial needs people have within the building,” Gibson said.
“Morgantown High School is blessed. We have amazing students, wonderful parents and community support like I’ve never seen. People always come out to help us no matter what it is,” she said.
