Making good on a promise, principals kiss a goat

Following through on a years-old promise, Columbia Falls Junior High school principal Dave Wick and assistant principal John Cooper last Tuesday kissed a goat to honor the student body’s efforts in reaching their fundraising goal.

“No matter the final outcome, I am incredibly proud of the students that participated and the community support,” said Student Council advisor Leslie Demaio during an assembly at the school, where the two held good on their promise.

The junior high every three years does a fundraiser through Equal Exchange, a catalogue fundraiser that sells fair-trade chocolate and other products. As part of the initiative, student council representatives come to every class and educate their peers on fair trade.

Out of the roughly 500 students in the junior high, 245 participated, Demaio said.

Those 245 students exceeded the goal set three years ago and raised $35,213, including donations. The school will keep a 40 percent profit, leaving the student council with $14,011 to use for various projects both within the school and in the community, Demaio said. About $300 has already been donated to the Sparrows Nest, a homeless shelter for teens, she added.

All students who participated were honored for their contribution and given a prize based on the total amount of goods they sold.

The top-selling classes were also honored. Ms. Greene’s class was first with $3,455, followed by Ms. Roe’s class with $2,498, and Ms. Gange’s class in third with $2,462 in sales.

For their work, Greene’s class was treated to a pizza party on Wednesday.

The top four individual sellers received cash prizes. Those four students were Dillon Anderson, who raised $553, Hannah Schweikert, $574, Destiny Profit-Robinson, $624, and Durgan Wieringa, who raised $756.

When asked what he would spend his $200 cash prize on, a jubilant Wieringa yelled into the microphone, “fishing stuff!”

After all of the students had been recognized, it was time to bring out the goat.

Wick and Cooper first duped the crowd of kids with a stuffed goat and were met with a few boos.

The real goat, however, was met with cheering, chanting, and stomping as kids saw the animal, volunteered by a student’s parents, led into the gym.

True to their word, both Wick and Cooper gave the goat a smooch before the students were dismissed back to their classrooms.