It was a bit unusual to see boxes and boxes of cereal lining the hallways at Creekside Elementary last Friday. No, the kids weren’t hungry for breakfast – they were helping those in need but in a fun and creative way. The boxes were set up like a domino rally, each one tipping into the next one until they reached the end where the last box toppled over to ring a gong declaring success.

“We’d heard about another school doing this and thought it sounded fun,” said sixth grade teacher and student council advisor Kinsey Reynolds who worked together with advisor Esther Swasey on the project. “So we decided to try it.”

The school’s first project collecting cereal was during COVID, she said. “It was easy and safe because people could just buy it and drop it off.”

The student council does some kind of service every year, she said. “They love doing it, it’s fun. We’ve collected 576 boxes since we started right after Halloween. We’re going to take them to the Layton High Teen Center.”

One of the moms is working there and said they don’t get very much cereal, said Reynolds. “The kids all like it so we’re going to take some boxes.”

“It’s fun to be on the student council and help the school,” said sixth grader Grace Martin. “We get to do fundraisers, especially this one because we get to donate food and see their happy faces.”

Martin said every day they would make an announcement about the cereal drive. “Our goal was 600. We didn’t quite make it but we got a lot. Kids would bring in their cereal boxes and stack them on the steps by their grade. The second graders won with 101 boxes.”

The student council set up the boxes with one laying down every so often. “Once we got everybody out (in the hall) we sat the ones that were down back up. We put them there so that if it didn't work it wouldn’t ruin it all.”

But it did work. As the boxes fell through the hallways like dominos, the whole school watched in anticipation. When the last box hit the gong – the crowd went wild. Kids were jumping up and down and cheering.

“Now we’ll load up the boxes and take them to the Teen Center,” said Reynolds. “It’s awesome to see youth helping other youth.” λ