Thomas County Central High School held the 6th Annual Shop with a Yellow Jacket (SWAYJ) event on December 14. Students from TCCHS formed teams and raised money to take a student from one of our lower schools shopping at Walmart. 85 teams participated this year involving approximately 350 high school students.

TCCHS students began arriving at the school around 8:00 a.m. and reported to the gymnasium to wait for instructions and for their shopping buddies to arrive. Students from Hand in Hand, Garrison Pilcher, Crosscreek and the lower elementary at Thomas County Middle School are selected by their guidance counselors to participate in SWAYJ. These students began arriving around 9:00 a.m. and were introduced to their high school shopping teams. Teams then reported to the cafeteria to color and watch Christmas movies until time to depart for Walmart. Around 9:20 a.m. teams loaded the buses to make the trip to Walmart. A police escort always adds excitement to the short ride. As the teams unloaded the buses, the TCCHS chorale greeted them with cheerful Christmas carols. Each team worked their way through Walmart looking for gifts for the student and his or her family members. Teams raised $100 for their shopping buddy, who was allowed to spend $35.00 on their choice of present and the remaining $65.00 of gifts for their family. As teams finalized their purchases and checked out, a bus awaited to return them to the high school where each gift was carefully wrapped. After wrapping was completed, students and buddies were served pizza and given the opportunity to decorate sugar cookies with icing and lots of sprinkles. Buddies were reunited with their parents and gifted were piled into cars. "It's the best day of the year," stated event coordinator and TCCHS teacher Regina Beasley.

TCCHS would like to thank Walmart, Papa John's Pizza and Mr. and Mrs. Jordan from Blue Bell Ice Cream for their help with this event. If you would like to learn more about SWAYJ and how individuals and groups can help with this event, please contact Ms. Beasley at rbeasley@thomas.k12.ga.us.

Please see Photo Galleries for more pictures from this event.