DHS Senior Uses DEF Student Grant to Fund a School Supply Closet for Students
Early in her high school career, Decatur High School senior Annike Wade saw a need among some of her fellow students for school supplies. She came up with a solution: she decided to create a school supplies closet that stocks the basic necessities for any student who needs them. Annike coordinated with the school administration and researched other school closets to learn best practices. She raised $400 for the initial supplies, and with the help of a DEF Student Innovation Grant, Annike has secured the necessary funding to ensure that the closet will continue to benefit her fellow students until 2027 — long after she graduates.
This initiative is also Annike’s Girl Scout Gold Award project. Similar to the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Scout project, the Gold Award is the highest award that a Senior Girl Scout can earn.
The school supply closet opened its doors at the beginning of this school year and is located in the Decatur Student Center at the high school. The closet is stocked to accommodate those students who are in chronic need of school supplies and not for a student who happened to forget a pencil one day.
The supply closet will also help DHS teachers, who end up spending their own money to provide their students with supplies. “Last school year, I conducted a teacher survey and the results indicated that our teachers are spending $189 on average of their own money on school supplies for their students,” said Annike. “One of my goals for the closet was for teachers to spend less of their own money.”
The closet currently has many of the typical items you’d expect to find – loose leaf paper, composition notebooks, binders, pens, mechanical pencils, notecards, and even clear backpacks. To ensure that the closet continues to answer students’ needs, Annike created a QR code that students can use to ask for specific items, like daily planners.
Annike is confident that she has provided a sturdy foundation so the closet can be managed by others when the funds run out. “My hope is that after running it for four years, the SGA or PTSA will continue managing it,” she said.
It’s through generous contributions from our community that enable DEF to support important projects like Annike’s. If you would like to support future Student Innovation Grants, please consider donating at www.decatureducationfoundation.org/donate.
