The ASB has a simple message for students this holiday season: Help someone else in need.

With that goal in mind, the ASB wants to incorporate holiday drives into the school’s holiday spirited traditions.

By getting involved with fundraisers and the community, the ASB hope to spread the holiday spirit to others around them. The two main drives this year are the Giving Tree fundraiser and the Second Harvest Food Bank drive. 

The ASB promotes the Second Harvest Food Bank drive every year. There is a barrel in the office where students can put canned foods. Some teachers are giving out extra credit as an incentive this year for students who bring in cans.

For the Giving Tree fundraiser, there are cards in the main office that have have children’s wishes on them. Students can buy the specific gifts on the cards and bring them unwrapped to the office.

“Not only are you helping kids out but you are contributing to the overall holiday spirit because these drives only happen around the holidays,” senior ASB vice president David Zarrin said.    

This year, the ASB is trying to move the students away from solely the decoration aspect of the the holidays and accentuate the giving aspect of the holidays.

“We are encouraging people to get into the holiday spirit by, for instance, buying a gift for a child in need or bringing in food for families who don’t have christmas dinners,” Saadat said. “[The holiday season] is a reminder to us that we are supposed to be giving and be compassionate to each other, so hopefully it will be reinforced by all these holiday fundraisers.”

With the holiday break rapidly approaching, Saadat wants students to embrace the holiday spirit and understand what is important in life.

“I hope that the holiday spirit will give a little break to all the competition that usually dominates this time so close to finals,” Saadat said.

At the end of November, the ASB carried out their annual tradition of decorating the office before the holiday break. They came together and decorated the whole office with Christmas and holiday decorations ornaments and caught the office staff by surprise.

“When we walked in the office [in November], we were surprised to see that the ASB decorated the whole office with christmas decorations,” principal's administrative assistant Susan Dini said.

After the ASB’s endless efforts to promote a new kind of holiday spirit, Saadat believes that their efforts made an impact on the students.

“I think that we were successful in increasing the holiday spirit and I hope it continues in future years to come,” Saadat said.