Project provides for agency, memorial
Kirsten Lee decided to take her senior project outside the classroom and help the community - raising $2,000.
The Greenbrier High School senior held two fund-raisers - a bachelorette auction and a Valentine's Day dance.
Kirsten gave $1,000 to a memorial for Daniel Hall and Shane Williams, Greenbrier students who died in a car accident in April 2003. She also donated $1,000 to Hope House, a program for women and their children who suffer from alcohol or drug addiction.
Her senior project, Kirsten said, was half research paper and half product. She said she wanted to do her paper on the social and medical aspects of alcoholism.
After presenting Hope House Executive Director Jerry Carrier with a check at the organization's Milledgeville Road location, the 17-year-old said why she chose Hope House.
"As soon as I met Dr. Carrier and found out all the amazing stuff this house does and that it takes in kids - and when I found out it was only funded by grants - I knew it had to go here," she said.
Kirsten, who plans to attend the University of Georgia in the fall and study public relations, said she worked for months on her project. She said she received help from the student council and Judy Teasley, a student council sponsor and social studies teacher.
"It was a good collaborative effort between Kirsten and student council," Teasley said. "Kirsten is very diligent, detailed oriented, very efficient. Once you sit down with her and tell her what you need done, she's intense upon getting those objectives met."
Kirsten held the bachelorette auction Feb. 2 in the school's auditorium.
Twenty girls were up for bid, which ranged from $15 to $80, Kirsten said. She even auctioned off herself.
"I went for $70," she said.
The young men with the winning bids had to take the bachelorette to the Valentine's dance in the gym Feb. 12. Money generated from the dance came from the sale of food and tickets, which cost $5 in advance and $7 at the door, she said. Kirsten said she also was able to have some of the dance's overhead donated.
"People were willing to help us cut costs to raise money. Coke donated drinks, we got donated security and we got a discount on the DJ," she said.
The auction raised $900, and the dance raised $1,100, Kirsten said.
Kirsten will present her project to her class in mid-March and then to the community board for a final grade a week later.
Carrier said the money will be used to provide additional services.
"I thought it was amazing that someone that young demonstrated the compassion to make the effort to help those in need," he said. "These women cannot do it alone."