“Supporting our community and showing them we truly care,” is the primary goal of Wish Upon a Star according to Freshman Adelaide Commartin. Wish Upon a Star is a school-sanctioned biannual event where students submit a wish and depending on the contents, they are selected to be granted. This event allows students and staff to feel acknowledged, inspires other acts of kindness around campus, and raises the overall spirit and culture of the school. A rally is held in conjunction with this event, during which specific wishes are granted and gifted to the students. Each granted wish allows Willow Glen High School the opportunity to fulfill the needs and wants of students and uplift the school as a whole. The school is able to aid the growth and development of our community while also leaving a lasting impression on not only the students who receive the gifts but also those who witness them.
Despite its apparent simplicity, an extreme amount of planning and fundraising goes into this event. Thao Pham, our activities director and leadership teacher here at Willow Glen, comments on the amount of work put into this event. “The most difficult part about this entire experience is the planning,” Pham says, “we collect the wishes from the teachers, read them, sort them, and decide which are worthy of being granted”.
We are supported by the Willow Glen Education Foundation; however, we still need to raise a significant amount of money in order to afford the wishes. This year, fundraisers were held with the foundation, Pizza My Heart, and family companies of our current students.
Once a sufficient amount of money is raised, the granting process starts. The leadership class is in charge of sorting and selecting the wishes they deem most appropriate to grant. There are huge varieties of wishes ranging from meaningful to funny. As of this year, the biggest wish that was granted was for freshman Ella Meskimen, who received a puppy. “Getting a puppy was definitely super exciting but a big responsibility,” Meskimen says, “I have to spend a lot of time taking care of him.”
Sophomore Andrew Booker, who helped organize the event, discusses what he thinks is the most important aspect of Wish Upon a Star. “Supporting our school and its students,” says Booker, “although it was a lot of work, just knowing that we helped to make a positive impact was an amazing feeling”.
Wish Upon a Star has the potential to positively impact every student in a variety of ways, and it is hoped that Willow Glen High School will continue to hold this biannual tradition.
