Westminster Christian Academy has many annual school traditions that bring the students together, including the Homecoming Carnival, Spirit Week, and the giving program titled “In the Spirit of Giving” (ITSOG). ITSOG has been a tradition at Westminster since the 1980’s, when it was called “In the Spirit of Service” (ITSOS) instead.

ITSOG is a week in the school year during the month of November where students bring in donations to help over 14 different Saint Louis area charities including Sunshine Ministry, One Heart Ministries, Whole Kids Outreach, and Little Bit Foundation. Donations typically include school supplies, toys, diapers, wipes, food, and hygiene supplies.

However, as of this year, ITSOG will not be continuing. Although it was a great way to bring in donations to help others, there have been multiple issues in recent years that have made the administration consider ending the tradition in its previous form.

Dani Butler, Head of Student Development, explained that the original goal back in the 80’s was “to benefit our partner non-profit organizations by bringing in a specific amount of items.” This target used to be met annually, bringing in thousands of dollars in donations, while grades came together to bring in the most amount of contributions.

Since Covid, participation in ITSOG has rapidly declined. Numbers have decreased annually in the last four years, so the administration has had to consider how to raise the donations once more: by using incentives to motivate students. At first, a free dress-down day was offered for the winning class, but it was not an appealing reward because of the weekly dress-down Fridays.

Butler mentioned that “we couldn’t find anything else that could excite [the students], so last year we decided we were going to discontinue this tradition.” Since it was the last one, it was decided that if the goal was met, Westminster would receive a day off of school. As a result, a record amount of items were collected from both students and staff.

Butler expressed how “this didn’t feel right, that we only had a record amount when motivated by a day off school. Westminster aspires to cultivate a spirit of service driven by God’s call to serve others rather than by rewards.”

Although ITSOG is gone, the serving and giving opportunities are not. Westminster will now have multiple smaller donation drives throughout the year, host two Special Olympics as opposed to one, and add a service day for the Junior class, so be sure to participate in the various donation and serving activities in order to keep alive the Westminster theme that it is better to give than to receive.