Tantasqua has a longstanding history of selflessness and community involvement across a wide breadth of fields and activities. Whether it be through its annual toy drive or volunteerism from its students, Tantasqua cares about helping and shaping the community from which it inhabits. To this end, the school recently concluded a fairly new endeavor: the Planet Aid sneaker and shoe drive. Now in its second year of fruition, the drive began on Monday, October 17th and ended on the 31st of October. It was a collaborative effort between the Student Council and the Rotary Club of the Brookfields, which is a global organization that implements humanitarian efforts and literacy programs; most notably, Rotary is credited with eradicating poliomyelitis.  

The purpose of the drive is to promote environmental longevity, as sneakers and certain shoes will spend 43 years in a landfill. Instead, shoes are collected and then donated to the Planet Aid sneaker drive where they are either re-gifted or used for construction projects that make use of the shoe’s materials. In the process, the school becomes more unified and lucrative relationships are forged between school and community groups. This year there was an outpouring of support from students and faculty with 171 pairs of shoes being collected, which was far more than last year. 

Ms. LaValle, the Student Council advisor, said that it was nice to see the school community come together and collect so many pairs of shoes. She also commended the Student Council for their collaboration with the Rotary Club. The Rotary president, Lynn Duffy O’Shea, expressed excitement: “This year, thanks to all the wonderful donations brought in by the students, teachers, and all other school office employees we were able to fill two trunk’s worth of sneakers and shoes totaling 171 pairs!” She also asserted that she is looking forward to another successful drive next year. 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this successful endeavor. Rest assured, the success of this drive and that of others is sure to prosper a further dedicated and emboldened academic and technical community at Tantasqua.