By Avrena Ghatas
The abrupt shift to distance learning in March left many students shocked by how fast everything changed starting with that last Friday of in-person instruction.
Now imagine how overwhelmed and pressured our teachers were. They had to shift their curriculum online and modify lesson plans, all while staying motivated and assisting students to the best of their ability.
“During the [meetings] in the school year, I could visibly see that one of my teachers was struggling with the quarantine and was really stressed out,” junior Katelynn Truong said.
With that in mind, Truong and her friend junior Sandra Ngo decided to spread positivity and express their appreciation for Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) teachers by creating care packages.
With permission to start the project from FVHS administration, Ngo and Truong began by emailing local businesses for help or donations, and, with the donations and help they received, they had enough supplies to create 130 care packages.
The two dropped off care packages in every teacher’s mailbox at school on Aug. 25 for teachers to pick up. Each kit includes the following:
- one notepad
- one box of paperclips
- two quality blue pens
- five security envelopes
- one pencil
- one bag of Gardettos snack mix
- one bag of potato skins
- one granola bar
- one package of Knott’s cookies
- one hot cocoa packet
- one coffee pod
- one mini water bottle
- one pad of sticky notes
- one highlighter
- one eraser topper
- one small bag of gummy bears
- two $5 Target gift cards
- one Recess Room gift card
- one sanitizer bottle or erasers
Ngo and Truong’s packages are handmade and an original idea, but they say they couldn’t have created them without the help of local businesses and organizations, including Lily Campbell, Edinger Medical Group, Staples, dtn.tech, the FVHS Parent Teacher Student Association and the Recess Room, as well as individual donors.
Truong and Ngo consider these care packages to be “similar to a gift that you’d give your teacher before the holidays.”
“We wanted to give the teachers something nice to make sure they know they’re thought of,” Truong said.
The positive reactions from FVHS teachers who have received their care packages show that the smallest acts of kindness, from warm messages to little gifts, matter a lot to teachers.
“Receiving a gift like this just makes me know I’m right when I say FVHS students are the best. It was so generous that these students took their time to put this together,” social studies teacher Gina Carbone said. “It means a lot and makes us feel appreciated during a chaotic time.”
Math teacher Jane Springer agrees, adding that the packages were “amazing” and “another reminder of how incredible our Baron students are.”
“Most teachers are used to spending our own money on supplies, so to get items like paper clips and post-its along with Target gift cards to help pay for even a few things was really nice,” Springer said.
Ngo and Truong say they’re happy with the positive feedback from teachers.
“I’m personally very glad that we were able to help out and make [teachers] feel a bit better during these times,” Ngo said.
