On November 4, at the monthly L2F assembly, students were thrust into a world of self-reflection.    Activity Director Pete Mercier and English Teacher Allison Nuckols continued to enlighten the class of 2019 on the Lead2Feed program at Menchville.

These assemblies are focused on ironing out the small parts of a bigger picture.  Mercier explained, “Rome was not built in a day, nor was it built by one person; the same applies here.”   Mercier and Nuckols discussed and illustrated the meaning and importance of empathy in today’s world.

Freshman Nicole Bell explained, “Empathy is when you feel bad about someone’s situation even if you have not gone through it yourself.”

The meeting also touched base on the fact unfortunate events happen to people daily through forces out of their control. Other issues such as the strong social media influence in our day to day lives and our hyper-reactive society were also discussed.

Mercier explained, “Hyper-reaction; you see it every day in the media. We find a 3 second video clip of something happening, immediately see it, and react without knowing the scenario, or the context of the situation. This is not empathy. Empathy is really trying to understand not only the person, but the situation in which a person may be found.”

Nuckols also added, “The best way to try and explain it without getting super specific is this; take a step outside your world and look at it as though you were a complete outsider.”

The substantial class goal of collecting a minimum of 4,000 cans/items along with a vision of raising at least 1,000 dollars was also discussed.

The first (of many) canned food drives is scheduled to kick off November 5^th, and run until the 20^th. All donations will go to the Peninsula Food Bank, and hopes to top last year’s total of over 3,200 non-perishable items are strong.

As an added incentive, the homeroom to collect the most cans will receive a catered breakfast courtesy of Chick-fil-A.