The ornament fundraiser is raising money for the Work Awareness and Transition program (WAT), which is a class for the special education department. This is the second year the WAT program has been at WS.

“The purpose of the fundraiser wasn’t to make a lot of money because we didn’t,” said the WAT teacher at WS, Barbara Martin, “The purpose was to get our students involved in the general education population.”

The special education students spent a couple of weeks giving out order forms for the ornaments to the general education kids in the cafeteria. The special education students put signs throughout the building as well. They also collected the money for the fundraiser.

It may not seem like it, but the special education students learn a lot from this one fundraiser. They acquire the knowledge to count money, learn how to write checks and deposit slips and invoice forms. Once the ornaments come in, the students go through all the payments and distribute numbers to the orders. Then, are going to have to learn how to go through all of our orders and give each order a number, and students will bag the ornaments. These are just a few of many skills people have to learn in order to function in the real world.

“There are so many pieces to this puzzle that I’m excited about it because they are learning so much. They really played a part in everything we did,” said Martin.

Martin had a lot of thought put into this fundraiser. Martin wanted to sell something that no one else had sold before, that’s where the ornament idea came from. The ornaments the WAT program are selling come in three colors: white, orange, and blue.

“I ordered one blue and one orange ornament. They’re definitely great to have for my family’s Christmas tree, especially because my whole family went to WS,” said sophomore Jessica Kirby.

Not only do these festive ornaments allow Spartans to show school spirit, but they allow students to meet new members of the WS community. They also embody the holiday spirit as they allow all the members of the WS school body to feel included

“I really love talking to and interacting with special education kids. The boy that gave me the ornament flyer was very sweet and kind,” said Kirby, “I feel like it’s a really great way to support them because they’re so often overlooked.”