By Robert Ostmann
Student leaders at Los Alamitos High School have undertaken an unusual project this holiday season. An anonymous corporate donor contacted teacher Tami Sciacca, who directs the Associated Student Body program at the high school, and donated $500 for each of her 46 students on one condition — that they give it away to someone in need.
Sciacca said vital elements of the ASB curriculum are the ideas of servant leadership and unconditional giving to build good will among students and the community. She said once her students found out about the donation, they spent much of November discussing how to give the money in ways that could make a difference in people’s lives.
The ASB students worked in teams to give the money and document the process in a series of YouTube videos entitled “Griffting Season,” a mash-up of the Griffin school mascot and gifting. The students are releasing new episodes each week until all of the money has been given away. The first installments can be viewed at https://youtu.be/8Vl30w3GIxs.
Sciacca said recipients of the $500 gifts are a diverse group that includes a homeless student at CSULB, a car wash attendant in Los Alamitos, an elderly couple who changed a student’s life, a student from Downey who needed assistance to go to outdoor science camp, and a family with six kids living in a hotel.
Sciacca said her students described giving the $500 gifts and spreading joy, positivity, and the meaning of unconditional giving as “life-changing “ and an experience they will never forget.
“I think Anne Frank was on target when she said, ‘No one ever became poor by giving,’ “said Los Alamitos High Principal Dr. Gregg Stone. “Actually, quite the opposite occurs. We get far more when we give than when we receive.”
