Mt. Tallac High students learn to give back to the community

The students at Mt. Tallac High School in South Lake Tahoe have learned how to give back to others in their community, and not in the normal food and money drive way.

What started last year with a rap song to raise funds for Christmas Cheer and now morphed into an annual project where more students can be involved in making a community-wide impact.

"As a school we chose people and organizations to give to," said school Principal Holly Greenough. "Since most of our students don't have the means to donate food and money we showed alternative ways they can give back."

The students gathered into three groups and each chose a project.

One group at Mt. Tallac is creating posters for Christmas Cheer and the Tahoe Warm Room that they will post around South Lake Tahoe. Each asks for donations to those organizations. Boys were adding glitter to their posters, the girls adding their final artistic touches. "Being 17 and a boy, and willing to work with glitter for a cause is amazing," said Greenough.

The second group is creating bracelets to sell so they can raise funds for 23-year-old Natasha Sagucka, a snowboarder who had been home schooled in South Lake Tahoe and a graduate of Mt. Tallac. She has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia that is in her bones and spine. (donations can be made on her GoFundMe page.) The students on this project also have a technical side. Joe Avila and other set up links to spread awareness through social media.

For their project, the third group is making greeting cards for Natasha, creations that will be mailed every few days to brighten her day.

"I don't know her," said 16-year-old Marisol Ramos. "It must be upsetting to her family." Ramos and her classmates were adding morale boosting quotes to each card.

"Tallac is so calm and productive," said a proud Greenough. "This group has been so easy to work with."

51 percent of the students are currently employeed, a statistic that reflects on the career and community minded students that now make up the Mt. Tallac population. Three of the students are dual enrolled at Lake Tahoe Community College.