Last month, Minnetonka High School students worked together to encourage a group of people who have been especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: healthcare workers. Wanting to show gratitude to those working on the front lines, MHS Student Government and DECA teamed up to write more than 500 letters to healthcare workers at Children's Hospital.

"Our goal was just to spread some holiday cheer and express our thanks to healthcare workers during this time," said MHS Student Government President Bryn Senske. "The coronavirus has been so hard on our healthcare workers so it seemed like a no brainer to do something like this." Senske worked with student body presidents from Chanhassen, Chaska, Eden Prairie, Edina, Wayzata and Hopkins high schools to put together the letter writing event.

Students who participated made colorful letters with positive messages of gratitude and dropped them off at a mailbox outside of the high school. From there, the letters were delivered to healthcare workers and patients at Children's Hospital in St. Paul.

Peyton Crest, one student who participated in writing letters, is a 12th grade student representative and DECA Officer at MHS. "I know the pandemic has been very difficult for many students, but I cannot even comprehend how demanding it must be for healthcare workers on the front lines," she said. "We recognize how strenuous the pandemic is for healthcare workers, and we wanted to voice our appreciation." Crest also served as a connection between Student Government, DECA and the National Honor Society to get more students involved. "With writing our letters, we wanted to instill hope and provide a source of comfort during times that seem to be in low supply of such qualities," said Crest.

Not only was this event a great way to express thankfulness to healthcare workers, Senske believes that a strong bond was formed among the different schools that participated because of the teamwork needed to pull this project together. "This event definitely opened the doors to collaborating with these other schools in the future which I am super excited about," she said. "A lot of the credit for this event goes to Daisy Lang, the [student body] president from Chanhassen."

In all, this letter writing event exemplified the values of service and kindness towards others in the Minnetonka community that Crest says are evident today. "I am proud to say I have grown up in a community that emphasizes giving back to the ones who help us succeed, and our Letter Writing Campaign perfectly aligned with those ideals, which is what we wanted to exemplify," she said. "Overall, it was an immensely rewarding process to see so many students participate, and I know their impact is invaluable."

Thank you students for your incredible leadership!