July 6, 2019
Raytown High School students in the student leadership organization, Jay Crew, and their sponsor Josh Reichert secured a $500 charity grant, finished in the top one percent of schools for the fourth year in a row, and earned honorable mention honors in the Lead4Change (previously Lead2Feed) Student Leadership program.
The Lead4Change Student Leadership program is the nation’s leading and fastest-growing free service learning program, attracting more than 1.5 million students across all 50 states. Raytown High School was one of only two high schools in Missouri to finish in the top one percent of schools in the nation.
Jay Crew invited all schools in the Raytown School District and the community to participate in their Lead4Change project. Raytown High students Kate Cook, Alexina Goold, Leslie Rodriguez, Anna Ryan, Erin Talbert, Allisiya Vaughn, Iris Vazquez, Lillith Vieux, and Larry Wilson coordinated the project and they selected Raytown Emergency Assistance Program (REAP) as the charity to benefit from their assistance.
Jay Crew sponsor Josh Reichert is so proud of his students, thankful for the lessons they have learned, and grateful for the community support students received along the way. “Every year, I am continually impressed and overwhelmed by the efforts of the Raytown Quality Schools and our community. It shows what we can accomplish through the sum of our parts,” Reichert said. “Thank you, Raytown!”
During the week of March 11, the Raytown High School Jay Crew sponsored a district-wide “Hunger Games Food Drive” benefiting REAP with a culminating community drive on Saturday, March 16. This year, students collected more than 25,000 non-perishable items and around $1500 in donations for REAP. Over the past four years, Jay Crew students have collected more than 80,000 items for REAP, collected around $10,000, and won $21,500 for REAP.
Raytown High School graduate David Novak, now retired Executive Chairman of Yum! Brands started the Lead4Change program as an innovative way to get high school and middle school students to tackle hunger in their community. The program is aligned with 21st-century skills and encourages students to develop leadership, literacy, and teamwork skills as part of their curriculum. Lead4Change is through the Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning and the Lift a Life Novak Family Foundation.
