Marching from the parking lot along Clarkson and onto Kehrs Mill Road, junior Nick Dragnev, STUCO president, and more than 60 students aimed to raise awareness for food insecurity through the March 4 Hunger event.
March 4 Hunger was an event organized by STUCO which was a combination of a canned food drive and march to increase community awareness, Dragnev said. This is the first year the event has been held at MHS.
Dragnev said they chose to march this route in particular to ensure more people in the community would see them.
“It’s a good way to have people not at Marquette see what we’re doing and be inspired by it,” Dragnev said.
Throughout last week, STUCO collected cans from fourth hour classes. The top three classes with the highest number of cans will earn a pizza party, Dragnev said.
Dragnev said the project was inspired by a similar event through a Parkway school where students went door-to-door requesting homeowners in the area donate canned foods.
“I really want to make sure that with everything I’m doing and that student council is doing we make a big positive impact on the school and the community.”
Junior Ishaan Brahmbhatt, STUCO vice president, said STUCO hopes to continue to host the March 4 Hunger in the future and potentially expand their march down Clarkson Road.
“Student council exists to make our school a better place,” Brahmbhatt said. “By doing this, it actually connects our community closer together.”
Brahmbhatt said he was glad that there was so much student participation in the event.
“It shows how our school can come together and support an event like this,” he said. “We had people bringing hundreds of cans in order to not only support their community but also win a pizza party.”
Nina Schlottman, sophomore, donated 20 cans and attended the march to contribute to the fight against hunger.
“I believe that in today’s economy we do not need people to be struggling for food when we’ve had the perfectly normal resources to get people food,” Schlottman said.
Schlottman also helped make posters for the event as well as spread the word via social media to advertise the march.
“I hope that less people have to worry about food being on the table each and every day,” Schlottman said.
Kara Zonies, STUCO sponsor, said the project is important to her because she wants students to be aware that their peers may be facing food insecurity.
“I don’t think kids realize some of them are very lucky,” Zonies said, “Many of the students here at Marquette are in the upper middle class and don’t know what it’s like to not have food.”
Zonies said the highest number of cans donated in one class was 513, with 400 of those being donated by Ethan Moore, freshman. Moore previously held a canned food drive and decided to contribute those cans to the march for hunger drive.
In total, 1,339 cans were collected and will be delivered to The Circle of Concern this week, a food pantry located in Valley Park, Zonies said.
