Adopt-A-Family teaches important lessons in the classroom

By Raushan Melton

Arts Editor

Mira Costa AP and Honors Chemistry teacher Teresa Nielsen’s participation with Adopt-A-Family shows how giving back needs to be integrated through Costa, as it gives back to our community and allows teachers to teach important lessons of charitable actions beyond the classroom.

Adopt-A-Family is a program that allows for families in poverty, mostly located in downtown Los Angeles or the Skid Row area to ask for items they would like to receive for the holiday season. Then, those who wish to donate are given a family who they then purchase gifts for.

For this year’s Adopt-A-Family program, Nielsen adopted a family for each of her classes. According to Nielsen, she feels as though Adopt-A-Family allows teachers to teach  students about generosity, selflessness and empathy, which are all qualities she finds much more important than anything learned from a textbook. Learning such vital lessons of generosity can help a student progress in the future with relationships, careers and more awareness towards the lives of others.

According to Nielsen, she encourages students to donate a dollar a day outside of the classroom to resemble the idea that each student can sacrifice one dollar for someone in need, which has resulted in approximately $1,500 total in total over the span of two weeks. If this type of positive and giving attitude were reflected in all Costa teachers, monumental strides in donation and volunteering could be made by Adopt-A-Family.  

For more information about the program Adopt-A-Family, click here. 

All classes can be as involved Nielsen’s classes if teachers and students keep an open mindset. According to Nielsen, if a student tells her that they cannot afford to donate the money, she encourages them to shop with her for the wish items to help them still be involved in giving back in the community. All Costa teachers should try to be actively involved with their students and the program, in order to show effort to give back to the community.

Although the amount of energy Nielsen’s classes put into Adopt A Family, the amount of time to be engaged in this activity can cause conflicts with students’ other extracurricular activities.  According to Nielsen, there is copious amounts of activity inputted to the donations, ranging from fundraising money to purchasing and wrapping the gifts. The time commitment is the biggest deterrent of the program, as many teachers do not want to input extra time into an activity if it is not needed.

For any more information about Adopt-A-Family, visit their Facebook social media site. 

Another deciding factor of participating in the Adopt-A-Family program this year is the time it occurs this winter. According to Claypoole, while the teachers that do participate go above and beyond what is asked for, some teachers may be deterred from participating due to the program ending right before semester one finals. This is understandable, as the cutoff is already causing teachers to rush lectures and finalize grades, that it would be hard to balance an outside program while focusing on finals.

If every teacher at Costa and their classes were to be as involved in Adopt-A-Family as Nielsen, many more families could be benefitted through the amazing program. Even though the donation process may take more time, the lessons that students will learn about giving back to those in need will surely teach them extremely important life lessons. Costa teachers should look to Nielsens’ fundraising as inspiration within their own classes and communities.