Gibraltar High School Student Council adviser Scott Clark works with students
(left to right) Kelsey Neddersen, Nicolai Carlson, Kelly Schuder, Molly Dickson,
and Travis Witalison.

By Terry Lawler
Contributing writer

Sergeant Shannon Doty had a problem. Her Army unit, stationed in Al-Qayyarah, a northern province in Iraq, was in the middle of a humanitarian project, building new elementary, middle and high schools for the local children. The problem was not the construction; the Iraqi children would have fine new buildings. The problem was that the children were without even the most basic school supplies like pencils and paper. While there are any number of organizations that Doty could have turned to for help, she made an appeal to one she felt she could count on: her hometown high school in Door County, Wisconsin.

As soon as Doty’s mother contacted the Gibraltar High School Student Council about the project last September, the students went into action. Letters were sent home with all of Gibraltar’s students, from kindergarten through 12th grade, informing families of what was needed. Student Council members called businesses from northern Door County to Sturgeon Bay to ask for supplies or money.

“We just looked up their customer service numbers,” said Kelly Schuder, a senior and four-year member of the council. “We explained to them what our project’s needs are. Everyone was pretty good about donating.”

Students’ families were generous in their donations, too. Kimberly Ann Mlodik’s 5th-grade class acted as a clearing house for all the contributions brought in by the lower grades. The high school held a competition between the classes. “Class-on-class competition gets most students involved, even the ones who tend to be apathetic,” said high school junior Nicolai Carlson.

Word of the project found its way to another alum in Boston. He told his company about the Gibraltar project, and they donated $100 to the cause. Local businesses and stores as far away as Sturgeon Bay gave supplies and money.

Since they began the project in September, the Gibraltar schools have collected dozens of boxes of notebooks, folders, pencils, pens, markers, soccer balls and more. The supplies will be shipped to Al-Qayyarah in February.

It is not the first time the Gibraltar Student Council has taken on such a project. Two years ago, Gibraltar graduate and Marine Corps Major Julie Schaffer was serving in Fallujah. Her unit had just finished building a new elementary school, and the students there lacked the same basic school necessities, so Schaffer asked the Student Council for help. The council organized a community supply drive and sent more than 50 boxes of clothing and supplies to Iraq. That same year, they sent aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The Student Council is very active on the local level too. The council organizes and runs the annual Senior Citizens’ Dinner. There’s also the Ground Hog’s Day Breakfast which is open to the community, an event at which the district’s bus drivers are recognized and honored. A couple of years ago, food pantries in Sturgeon Bay and northern Door County put out an appeal to help restock their shelves. “We set a schoolwide goal for collecting food,” Schuder said. “There was a ‘thermometer’ in the lobby of the school so kids could keep track of our progress and stay motivated.”

“The athletic department was willing to waive the entry fee to our basketball games if people would bring in non-perishable food. Of course, people didn’t bring in just one item; they brought in bags of food,” said Student Council adviser Scott Clark. The food drive exceeded its goal and the council provided an all-school ice cream party as a reward.

Using the energy of Student Council members for charitable work began more than a decade ago with David Lee, an instructor who has since passed away. “David Lee believed that students should connect with the community,” said Clark, a social studies teacher who is the latest in a line of faculty advisers who have helped the council become a powerful guiding force for all the students and a generator of charitable and humanitarian projects. “Now, we take on projects as they come.”

Carlson admits that at times the projects appear daunting.

“At first, it seemed very challenging, just to contemplate that we were going to send boxes of supplies to a foreign country,” he said. “But, once you sort through these things, it’s not that difficult. You make your contacts and fulfill your goals.”

Council members find their work very rewarding. “One thing really touched me when we did the Fallujah project,” Carlson said. “The art department made a big banner and the council sent a picture of ourselves in front of it along with the banner and supplies. The Iraqi students sent back a photo of themselves with the banner along with an Iraqi flag and an olive tree.”

Molly Dickson, a senior, said she enjoys “working with the community and giving something back. The projects we do are fun because we make them fun.”

Through all of their hard work, the council seeks publicity not for themselves, but for their projects. “We don’t publicize ourselves,” Schuder said. “That would just use up time we could be spending on our projects.”

Clark said having an active, civic-minded student council is well worth the effort. “Any council can do this, and that’s the key,” he said. “I get the requests for projects, but I throw them out to these guys and they make the decisions. It’s fun to sit back and say, ‘Get it done,’ and they do it.”

Students in Fallujah, Iraq, stand behind a poster sent to them, along with school supplies, by students at Gibraltar High School in Door County, Wisconsin. The sign reads: Gibraltar High School & Friends.

More about the Gibraltar High School Student Council

Gibraltar High School lies nestled in a bend of Highway 42 as it meanders through Fish Creek in Door County. Part of a complex that includes the middle and elementary schools and the Door Community Auditorium, the high school serves about 200 students.

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Getting on the 20-member Student Council is not easy. Members were chosen by election in the past, but the elections became little more than popularity contests, and Student Council adviser Scott Clark found, “We were turning away good leaders because they did not want to be part of the political mess of school elections.” All students must apply, even those who have already served. Applicants must have recommendations from the community, classmates, teachers and other staff members. They must write five separate essays. Outgoing senior council members judge the applications. Kelly Schuder, a senior and four-year member of the council, said, “We’re looking for kids who are participating in school activities, kids who will work hard and are already assuming leadership roles in the school.”

• • •

The community, the administration and the school board all value these students. “When the administration wants to make a change in the school, they come to the council,” Clark said. “When the school board talks about changing school policies, they ask, ‘What does the council say about it?’ ”

Posted February 1, 2008