Northridge students raise $6K for center

FARMINGTON — During the recently completed school year, students at Northridge High School banded together to raise almost $6,000 for the Davis Children's Justice Center.

The center, which provides a comfortable interview location for children who have been abused, recently completed a major renovation but lacks some of the needed furniture, said center director Doug Miller.

Erin Kearl, Clinton, who graduated with the Class of 2008, said she and other student-body officers picked the CJC because they wanted to help an organization close to home.

The CJC assists law enforcement with more than 400 child-abuse investigations in Davis County each year.

"It helps someone that lives by you," Kearl said. "It's kind of something that's really private. It's a little more sacred, in a way."

During a schoolwide assembly, when the student-body officers kicked off the fundraiser, they told students some teachers would provide incentives to get them to donate.

At one level, a teacher would shave her eyebrows.

That was Ariane Stevens, the band teacher, who made good on her promise and went eyebrowless when donations came in by the bucket during that assembly.

Another teacher, Saralyn Lucas, who teaches financial literacy, ended up with a meal of dog food after about $2,500 poured in.

During the year, other fundraisers took place, such as a ping pong tournament, said Brittany Jackson. A powder-puff football game, which school administrators had previously banned, was brought back to swell the coffers, said Disney Saunders.

Other fundraisers included sumo-wrestling teachers, an event in which various students shaved their heads, and penny wars, which let all three classes compete to see who could raise the most money.

Davis County commissioners applauded the Northridge students' efforts Tuesday during their meeting.

"You made a great deal of difference," said Commissioner Louenda Downs, herself a Northridge alumnae.

But the student body officers praised their fellow students and school administrators, who lent their support to fundraising efforts.

"All this would not have happened without them," Kearl said.

---

E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com