Every year, Westmont ASB plans and executes “Wish Week” before finals, to help put our community into the happy holiday cheer and generous giving season spirit! Wish Week consists of spirit days, wintery lunchtime activities, small wish deliveries, and a huge giving assembly at lunch on Friday. Students showed up very spirited for each one of the spirit days this year! At lunchtime, there was free apple cider, cookie decorating, pin the face on the snowman, and snowflake making! The spirit days selected for this years wish week were as follows:
- Monday: Grinch (wear green) day
- Tuesday: Ugly sweater day
- Wednesday: Festive Attire
- Thursday: Socks, Crocs, and Birkenstocks day
- Friday: Pajama and bring a blanket day
Throughout the fall semester, ASB works very hard to fundraise, collect donations, and plan for granting students wishes. At the beginning of the school year, they host an event called Moonlight Dinner, where families and teachers come to Westmont for a nice meal and performance. Most of the funding for Winter Wishes comes from this event so be sure to attend next year! Once all of the wishes from students have been submitted, ASB kids collectively decide which wishes are most meaningful to them without the ability to see who wished for it. While they want to be able to grant every wish submitted, there is of course a limited budget and that would simply not be possible! Once the 10 big wishes to be granted at the assembly have been selected, they begin budgeting for the smaller wishes that are delivered throughout the week to classrooms. This year, ASB was able to grand around 200 smaller wishes! Some of these smaller wishes are delivered in front of the wishees class–as per their request on the wish form–but plenty are granted behind the scenes too. Over $3,500 in groceries were donated to various students in need to help cover essential costs during break as well as extra money for rent and holiday gifts for family members. ASB was also able to help cover the cost of prom and senior beach day tickets for students that wished to attend! No student shall be held back from participating in a school event because of their financial situation, so scholarships can be requested for any of these events throughout the whole year! Here is a list and brief summary of each of the big wishes granted at the assembly on friday:
- Donovan Plummer had been wearing the same shoes since freshman year, and wished for a good quality pair to replace his old ones. His family has only been able to afford necessities like rent and groceries, making it difficult to be able to spend money on other things for Donovan. They bought him a new pair of shoes, a golfland gift card that he can use to enjoy quality time with his hardworking parents, and also provided his family with plenty of other basic necessities for the holiday season.
- Ryan Mai wished for a camera. Growing up with a single mom, money was always tight, and his relationship with his mom was strained due to abuse and negligence. He had grown up trying to please his mom over his own well-being, and this past summer he ended up leaving home due to his mother’s abuse of drugs. He now lives with his aunt and her family. During this extremely tough time, Ryan has found passion and reprieve in digital photography, finding something he truly loves. ASB was able to purchase him a DSLR camera, a care kit to help him take care of his mental health, new room decor, movie gift cards, and a grocery gift card to support him!
- Charline Pelloux-Gervais wished to thank Mr. Poppinga for how fun he has been as a PE teacher over her last 4 years at Westmont and for how much his kindness has helped her even though he didn’t know it. She wanted to give him some of the joy he has given her. She wished for a mini surfboard (a keychain or something) with an engraving sign “your favorite frenemy”, or a real one, for Mr. Poppinga. ASB granted this wish by giving Mr. Poppinga an appreciation keychain gift, a gold membership to “The Hub” to play pickleball, and a donation to two of charity organizations (Maui Hospice and Meals on Wheels) which mean alot to him!
- Kort Wohlgenant’s cousin Hudson recently went through a family tragedy, and has been having a hard time. Kort wished to fly his cousin out and help expand his shoe collection along with spending time with him since it will be his first Christmas without his dad. ASB was able to fly out Hudson and plan an entire weekend of fun for the both of them, consisting of tee time at Top Golf and delicious meals. They also bought Korts cousin two new pairs of shoes to add to his collection!
- Zaid Saavedra’s grandma has arthritis, and sometimes she doesn’t feel good. Even though she feels tired and in pain, she still takes care of his little cousin. She is very hardworking and doesn’t get very many days off because she has to work a lot to support her family. He wished to give her some stress relief and to take some time to rest. For Zaid’s grandma, ASB funded a trip to the nail spa, movies, and Olive Garden. Additionally, they greeted her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and money for groceries and gas this holiday season.
- Gizelle Goodman is a competitive dancer and wished to be able to go to her team’s dance nationals this summer in Las Vegas but her family cannot afford it and she didn’t want to be left out yet again. She wished for money to help sponsor the trip. ASB wrote a check to Gizelle’s family to cover hotel and dance competition costs as well as a gas gift card to cover the drive to the competition. They also gifted Gizelle some credit to Lululemon, Sephora, and Amazon where she purchases the makeup and clothes that she dances in! Lastly they got her credit to her favorite food places where she can take her teammates out for special bonding time!
- Erica Correa wished for extra support and supplies to help with her injured knees. She was a competitive swimmer and won MVP for her two years at Westmont in the pool. Sadly, she has developed Patellar Tendinitis in the last 5 months. It was diagnosed as severe and she was forced to stop swimming. To brighten up Erica’s struggle with her knees, ASB purchased her extra support supplies like KT tape, a knee wrap ice pack, Biofreeze, a knee support strap, and resistance bands! However, they knew that they could do more. They reached out to De Vita Personal Training and provided a few free sessions to help kick-start her physical therapy journey.
- Sonia Gomez’s dad comes back home drenched in rain during winter. He’s always out working for their family from before sunrise till dark, but recently he injured his back to the point where it hurt him to walk. Sonia says, “My dad has always been such a hard worker and my mom for as long as I have known has always made money in many different ways by either baking, having garage sales, cleaning office buildings, and where she is today cleaning houses.” Sonia wished to show them some appreciation because they are big role models in her life and have taught her all her life to work hard for her dreams and goals. ASB purchased Sonia’s parents, new warm clothes, an appreciation basket, and plenty of groceries to help them out this season.
- Senior, Aurora Brown, wished to thank her best friend, Savannah Aguilar, for all of her unconditional support and dedication during her mental health struggles the past year. The wish was granted with a Doordash, gas, and Visa gift cards for Savannah, as well as shark-themed gifts (her favorite animal).
- Ava Garcia wished for a donation of $50-100 to a cancer research society, such as the Stanford Cancer Institute that her friend Amanda Kappenman, who has battled cancer and for the past year, has received life saving treatment at. ASB was able to donate way more than the requested amount to the cancer center. They also wanted to do more to support Amanda through her tough battle with cancer by gifting her whale watching tour tickets, a shark tracking bracelet, and a donation to her club “Rooting for Earth,” as nature is a huge interest of hers. Lastly they got Amanda a Tea For Two experience at one of her favorite local spots, “Lisa’s Tea Treasures” and tickets to an escape room adventure where she can spend more time with her friend Ava Garcia!