With the holiday season creeping in, Yorba Linda High School is doing its part to make sure all the students and community members are celebrating with cheer. There are many clubs on campus that are hosting holiday events and service projects. However, it is fair to recognize PTSA Student Leadership for their holiday agenda because they have consistently been active during this season every year.

To begin, the PTSA program is hosting a toy drive by assigning all PTSA members to a foster child from the Crittenton Center in Yorba Linda. By assigning each member to a child, the PTSA members will have the opportunity to read about that person’s Christmas wish-list. Then, the members can actually go purchase the item and turn it in with the PTSA donations. This is a great way that YLHS members are directly helping better the community and spreading holiday joy.

Also, PTSA Student Leadership hosts an annual holiday cookie day for the staff members. All the PTSA members are asked to bring in holiday cookies in order to create an enjoyable surprise for the teachers and staff one morning. With hundreds of cookie donations, PTSA makes sure to have plenty for all the teachers; they even supply bags in case there are people who want to save the cookies for later. Why does this cookie day exist? Not only is it because the staff loves to eat cookies, but also it is because this day is a way for the students to say “thank you” to the educators in a fun way. The students know how hard the teachers work and they enjoy having the opportunity to give back to their school through small service projects like this one.

Thanks to the dedicated PTSA members, students have been able to participate in these community service projects and give back to their school and community. Harshal Vaza (12) said that he thinks “it’s really cool to be able to make someone’s day by buying them a simple Christmas present.” Surely, the advisors and students are working hard to make sure they have another successful holiday season. It seems as though PTSA is always working on something, whether it be a community service project, leadership event, or teacher appreciation event. No matter what the group is working on, the students are always contributing to a greater cause and are focused on building their leadership skills by collaborating to reach a common goal.