Mrs. McNeil is literally fanning herself with her winning feathers. "I'm so excited." said McNeil. "I can't wait to donate it." Mrs. McNeil will be giving half of the money to Riley's Children's Hospital. Photo by: Shelby Harrell

By Shelby Harrell

When the Pilgrims first came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, they had a very hard time. Food was scarce and difficult to find. The Native Americans taught them how to harvest and thus, the Thanksgiving Turkey was born.

However, times may not be as harsh today. In the tradition, every year the students continue to purchase feathers from Alpha Delta Rho. This shows appreciation for their teachers by dressing their turkeys in feathers. English teacher Mr. Kyle Coffman said, “It makes me feel appreciated. It is cliché, but it makes everything worth it.”

Alpha Delta Rho holds a fundraiser every year, selling hundreds of feathers to appreciative students. They also have a contest to see which teacher receives the most feathers. The winning teacher gets to donate half of the proceeds to any charity of their choosing. Mrs. Jyll McNeil, FACS teacher,  is the winner this year. “I am so excited,” said Ruth McCullough, who teaches in the FACS department. “ I love it,” she says.

This fundraiser usually lasts about two weeks, and has been going on for at least five years. Evidently, however, it takes a great amount of effort and time to plan it and get it going.

“It takes a decent amount of time,” said Hope Babcock, a member of Alpha Delta Rho, “Because you have to cut out the feathers and paper turkerys.” Yet, nobody is exactly sure when the tradition actually started, or who exactly came up with this idea, but the estimate is that someone started it about five years ago. “Its been a tradition here, for a very long time.” said Grace Anders, president of  Alpha Delta Rho.

All throughout the school, teacher are saying that it makes them feel great, and that it makes all of their efforts worth it. “It makes me feel really special.” says Mrs. Ruth McCullough.

One thing about this is to make sure to take count of all of the feathers. They had an issue like this one last year. “We had to cut more feathers during the middle of the fundraiser.” said Anders. The cost of a feather is one quarter, or five for a dollar. They were available all throughout the month of November.

“The amount of how much we make depends on how many we sell,” said Babcock.

Teachers put a great amount of effort into school, and students did a great job of showing their appreciation.