CARROLLTON — The members of the Carroll Academy Student Council Association have a passion for helping their community.
“I think they go beyond the call of duty,” said Student Council sponsor Liz Wilson, who teaches English at the school. “They are out there on the fringes.”
The group recently won the state first-place award for community service from the Mississippi State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution at the organization’s Feb. 16 state conference in Jackson.
It’s not the first time for the Student Council to capture the top prize; it has been the first-place winner for the past several years. On top of that, it has won three first-place and three second-place national DAR awards for community service.
“We just have all the right adults in it, we have a great sponsor, and our headmaster allows us to do a lot,” said senior Graycen Wiltshire, the Student Council president. “I think what makes us different is that we’ve done so many of these projects yearly for so long, and we continue to build on that every year.”
They group is sponsored as the Douglas Carroll Junior American Citizens by the local Third Arrow Chapter of the Mississippi DAR.
“They were so proud of what these kids were doing, so they picked them up and asked to sponsor them,” said Wilson, who is also a member of the Third Arrow Chapter.
The CA students are involved in a variety of community service projects each year that include helping national DAR nonprofits, state charities and mission efforts in their community as well as helping at their own school.
“If you don’t support your community, your community is not going to support you,” said senior Sage McNamara, the Student Council treasurer. “We support our state, our community and our school.”
Wiltshire said that being involved in the group’s many community service projects is a rewarding experience.
Her own family was even touched by the council’s generosity when an uncle who has multiple sclerosis needed assistance.
“During the Muscular Dystrophy Association month, we did a fundraiser for my uncle so he could go to California to do a stem cell research treatment,” Wiltshire said.
The family needed to raise $15,000. The community came up with a good bit of the money but was about $1,500 short. That’s when Wiltshire, who was in the ninth grade at the time, and her brother brought the council the idea of holding a fundraiser.
“The Student Council was able to give the family the check that put them over the $15,000 needed,” said Wilson. “Her uncle came to the school to personally thank them and tell them how much it meant to him.”
Many of the Student Council members have big hearts and try to find ways to serve others.
“We look for where there’s a need and how we can help somebody,” said Wiltshire.
Last year, a student at Carroll Academy was diagnosed with cancer. The Student Council rallied behind him and came up with a way to help his family.
Since his medical treatment was being provided for by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the students decided to raise money to pay for his school tuition.
“We did fundraisers for him all over town,” said Wiltshire. “We thought that paying for his tuition would be one less thing his family would have to worry about.”
About nine years ago, Carroll Academy’s Student Council was inactive. Wilson, who had just come out of retirement to teach at the school, decided to start it back up because she knew how it could help the students.
“My goal is to watch them grow as young people and show them the value of giving back to their community, their school and their nation,” she said. “I want them to take this on from high school and give back and teach others.”
McNamara said that being in Student Council has made him want to be the best.
“It has pushed me be a better student and a better person,” he said. “The organization has provided a gateway of opportunities in my life.”
McNamara said that almost all of his college tuition to the University of Mississippi next year is covered because of the scholarships he is receiving because of all of his community service hours — 1,000 — with Student Council.
Wilson said while more and more schools are requiring students to have a set number of community service hours before graduation, Carroll Academy doesn’t have a requirement because “we get them in.”
The 2017 theme for the Student Council was “100th Anniversary of WWI — Service on the Home Front.” They began with a pledge to donate food items each month to the town’s food mission run by the North Carrollton Baptist Church. In March, the students raised $1,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and sent a child suffering with the disease to a special summer camp. Later during March, they delivered Easter goodie bags to Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, where they held an Easter event hosting an egg hunt and a visit from the Easter bunny.
For Memorial Day, the executive officers of the Student Council placed 216 flags on the graves of veterans of all wars in Evergreen Cemetery. The group also held the Carroll County Memorial Day Program on the grounds of the courthouse with city and county officials. They presented proclamations, gave an invocation, led the Pledge of Allegiance and placed a commemorative wreath honoring all veterans.
On the Fourth of July, several members served as the color guard and passed out flags and lapel pins during the joint community celebration.
The Student Council proclaimed October as Cancer Awareness Month and held bake sales, sold pink items to raise money to help find a cure and created a memory board in honor of cancer victims.
McNamara said this is a very special fundraiser for the group.
“This really close to us because our sponsor, Ms. Liz Wilson, has actually fought and beat breast cancer,” he said.
Wilson said she greatly appreciates the students for holding this event in her honor.
“It means a lot to me,” she said.
This year, they raised $500 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.
Also during October, Student Council members helped clean the Merrill Museum for Carrollton Pilgrimage & Pioneer Day Board, while other members dressed in period costumes and served as hostesses at the antebellum homes during the festival.
The also held a bake sale during the Pilgrimage.
They raised $500 and donated the money to the medical fund of the Tamassee DAR School in Tamassee, South Carolina, which serves underprivileged children of Appalachia.
On Veterans Day, the Council members held a ceremony at Carroll Academy and then held the county’s Veterans Day Program on the grounds of the courthouse. The entire Student Council then traveled to the State Veterans Home in Kosciusko, where students visited with the veterans, served them cake and coffee and thanked them for their service to their country.
The Student Council also shipped 80 T-shirts and 106 pairs of socks through Wounded Warriors to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
They capped the year by holding a fundraiser for Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital. In December, they presented Child Life Services with a check for $2,000 along with boxes of toys for Santa to give the patients. Council members, dressed as elves, Frosty the Snowman, Santa and Santa’s helpers, held a Christmas event for the children. The event included a visit from Santa, games manned by elves and the writing of letters to Santa for each child. Each child received a stocking filled with toys before returning to his or her hospital room.
“Normally, we go and take the money, but this year we decided to bring Santa Claus and elves and little games,” said Wiltshire. “They really enjoyed that.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
