Thinking about the 12 hours of planning props, costumes and whatever else needed to get done for the upcoming productions Crazy Eights and Putnum, Raegan Estes knows she can find anything from tampons and pads to ramen noodles for a quick dinner right in room six. 

For theater teacher Shawnasea Holst ensuring her students were comfortable and had everything they needed wasn’t new, but providing for all of her students out of pocket wasn’t going to be ethical long term.

“Last year, if things ran out, I just said, so sorry, too sad and every day, fruit strips and cheesticks, I would pass them out to kids because that was what I had,” Holst said. But if I ran out for the week, I wasn’t going to get more until the next week. It was just me sharing my own.”

Using Holst’s snacks wasn’t going to work and having a student leave the building to get items for the night wasn’t going to be ideal either, Holst needed to find another way to meet the needs of those who put in overtime. 

“It was a conscious effort this year, partially because of the inspiration of other people like, oh, hey, ask Amazon for parents to help,” Holst said. “And they provided.”

Students spend long hours at the school producing and planning all of their productions and now have a place to feel like home. 

“We had meetings at 7 AM for the officer board then, was here until 8 o’clock working on our cast list,” Holst said. “So if we didn’t have the ramen and the spray deodorant and the fidgets, it’s a really long day to be uncomfortable and out of the things you need to just be functional after 12 hours.”