Make A Wish relays at Wheatland High School raise money to make dreams come true

WHEATLAND – The money was overflowing the red plastic party cups in the Wheatland gym last week and the race was on to make wishes come true.
The student council hosts a Make A Wish relay each year to help raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation which is a nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of 2 and a half and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded and is headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz.
This year, under the tutelage of student council advisor, Susan Schomburg, the student body ran a timed relay to see how much money they could donate in hopes of filling up their class’ money bucket. The seniors who had won the previous year’s relays again had their bucket filled to the brim and were the winners of the relay.
The real winners are the kids with illnesses and families who care for them. This year in three days Wheatland raised $5,475 which surpassed their goal according to student body president Khayla Otero and student council member Adam Suko who organized and ran the Make A Wish relays.

“I think the level of competition has gone up every year, and so our money totals have also risen,” Suko said. “Everyone just loves the fun competition.”
Otero said that the goal this year was $5,000 and the totals included money that came in from Libby, West and the middle school.
“We encouraged them to participate by giving the winning grade a pizza party that the student council pays for in hopes that it will promote greater awareness,” Otero said. “The winning class from the elementary school varies and depends upon how much the teachers promote it and get behind it.”
According to Suko and Otero, the event has been going for many years, but the relay idea is relatively new and was created and organized four years ago when the two were freshmen.
“This is where we raise most of our money,” Otero said. “It is super competitive and fun.”
Suko said the relays were created to have more activities that would bring in more awareness and more money for the cause.
“They had previous activities, but they wanted more,” Suko said. “So, we all kind of threw out ideas and someone came up with the idea of a relay.”
Both Otero and Suko both hope that the relay tradition continues and feel that the school definitely likes to get involved.
“All of Wyoming is really a big participant in it,” Otero said. “New York is the only state in the nation that raises more money for Make A Wish than Wyoming. But it’s not just the money and the competition. When we go to the state convention and hear the stories of how the money is being used, it makes this so worthwhile.”