The Shoebox Project at Portland High School

As December approaches, Portland High School students are starting to gather items for the annual Shoebox Project.

Kacy Goeckel, a teacher at Portland High School who helps organize the project, said she works with students and staff at the school to organize donations and make sure every child who needs a shoebox gets one.

According to Goeckel, members of the school’s staff try “to bring awareness to the students to help others in our community and bring in donations. Some help monetarily and others help by volunteering their time.”

Goeckel said students and staff donate items to fill the boxes including gift cards, coloring books, crayons, and school supplies.

“I brought in some things the last couple of years and last year I remember I helped wrap a bunch of shoeboxes,” said PHS student Megan Bond.

What is the Shoebox Project?

With the start of the holiday season, Portland community members are thinking inside the box with the annual Shoebox Project.

Kacy Goeckel, a teacher at Portland High School who helps organize the project, said Shoebox Project participants fill empty shoeboxes with small gifts for children in need in the Portland School District.

The chair of the Portland Community Fund’s Christmas Giving Committee, Lisa Balderson, said PHS students and staff collaborate with the community fund for the project.

“They get with us at the community fund and they ask for a list of all kids that we give to, and they supply a shoebox for each one of those kids,” said Balderson.

Balderson said every child 18-years-old and younger in a family receiving other holiday assistance from the community fund gets a shoebox filled with gender and age specific gifts.

According to Balderson, Portland Community Fund records said 1,539 children received filled shoeboxes between the years 2009 and 2013.

Perks of online communication

Despite the advantages of in-person interactions, Michigan State University students Grace Hough and Mitchell Alpiner say online communication has perks of its own.

Hough said she uses social media and texting to communicate with her sisters who are in high school because she cannot see them in-person very often.

“It’s a nice way to keep in touch,” said Hough.

In one survey, 88 percent of teens with social media accounts said it helped them keep in touch with friends they cannot see regularly.

Alpiner said he likes texting and other online communication because “being online gives me a few more seconds and minutes to think about what I'm going to say next.”

In the same survey, the ability to think about a response, along with the quickness and ease of texting were among the top three reported benefits of texting over face to face communication.

Perks of face to face communication

Communicating with phones and computers does not always live up to meeting with someone in-person, according to Michigan State University students.

Students said face to face interactions are often more enjoyable and productive but less convenient than using social media or texting.

“Being in-person lets me react quicker and hear the inflection, as well as see the body language of the people I'm interacting with,” said MSU senior Mitchell Alpiner.

MSU freshman Grace Hough said she also prefers meeting people in person.

“It’s fun to meet up with people places instead of just texting them because you can do things like meet in a cafeteria and have coffee with someone, and it’s just fun to interact and be around people,” said Hough.