In wake of Hurricane Harvey and the destruction it wreaked in and around coastal Texan communities, Cupertino High School is sponsoring a fundraiser, Pioneers to Panthers, to raise money for CE King High School, a school in Texas that was flooded by the storm. The idea came to be when Ms. Tomberlain called to check in on a friend in Houston. “I was wanting to do something personally to support the Hurricane Harvey Relief and I was talking to a girlfriend of mine in Houston, and her house and school were flooded so I was checking on her. Her school was being adopted. She said I should check that out. I’m also following simultaneously my niece and her husband who are both teachers in the Houston area, and I found out that my Nephew’s school, CE King High School, was in one of the most flooded areas,” says Ms. Tomberlain. She and her niece felt that CE King needed aid in order to recover so she contacted the principal, Doctor Demetrius McCall, who was very enthusiastic in accepting Ms. Tomberalin’s fundraising idea.

When Ms. Tomberlain presented the idea of “Pioneers to Panthers” to Mr. Morse and the Associate Student Body (ASB), it was received with great excitement. Through their hard work and thought, ASB generated and implemented many ideas to help fundraise for the school. One of their ideas involved illustrating to Tino students the devastating effects of the flood.

“We put up the streamers at the water level at CE King High School to illustrate to everyone at this school why this is so important. Because when you see that visual and you realize how much stuff would be ruined if there was water everywhere, you know, it’s really powerful,” said junior Jade Lacy.

ASB also provided several venues to streamline donation efforts such as the distribution of cash envelopes during third period on Sept. 7, donation buckets for parents during back to school night, Venmo, and a bucket collection at the upcoming football game.

The goal was to raise $5000 for CE King to buy school supplies, teacher equipment, and the relevant supplies and renovations the school needed. By Wednesday, Sept. 7th, Cupertino students had raised more than $8200. Evidently, Cupertino students are very passionate about helping out those in need.

Said sophomore Paankh Gupta, “I think the people who are going through what the hurricane put them through are very unfortunate and people like us who have the opportunity to help them should definitely be helping.”

The Panthers will be going back to school on September 18th so the current plan according to Mr. Morse is to “Send them a check this weekend so it can get there a couple of days before school starts to get some supplies and get things going.” Cupertino High will continue to collect donations throughout the rest of this week and hopefully raise more money for the students at CE King High.