THOMASVILLE- Shoppers at Walmart were clapping and cheering along with the band and cheerleaders on Saturday morning as elementary school students exited their buses with a shopping buddy in hand. The fun-filled welcome was all part of Thomas County Central’s annual Shop with a Yellow Jacket event, which invites local kids to hang out with teams of students as they shop at Walmart.
TCCHS Principal Jamie Thompson explained the high school works with elementary school counselors to identify students who would most benefit from the program. The students are then paired with high school groups, who have raised $125 to spend on the child and their family.
The high school groups range from groups of friends to athletes and members of service clubs.
“It’s just a group effort,” Thompson explained.
While the students and their shopping buddies find things they would like, they also have a list of items they would like to purchase for their family members.
“One of the neat things about Shop with a Yellow Jacket is that not only are they shopping for themselves, but they are shopping for their families,” Thompson said. “They collect information on their siblings and their parents. So if there’s $125, they may spend $50 or $60 on their family members.”
The fun doesn’t end when the shopping is complete; students and their buddies are then transported back to the high school, where the shopping buddies have made a winter wonderland full of gift-wrapping stations, and yummy snacks and goodies. They also a treated to a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
“When they get picked up, everything is wrapped with tags, so they can put it under their tree and be ready to open it on Christmas,” Thompson said.
While most may think of toys and gifts for family members as something extravagant, Thompson said the Shop with a Yellow Jacket experience is very humbling for both the faculty and shopping buddies as the students often pick out simple daily-use items.
“It’s those items we often take for granted,” he said. “Our high school kids get more out of it and feel the impact more than the little kids.”
Students felt the impact on Saturday, as Thompson estimated nearly 500 high schoolers were involved in the course of the shopping experience, ranging from band members to shopping buddies for 90 elementary school students.
“This has just become a tradition at Thomas County Central High School and the high schoolers all look forward to it,” Thompson said. “While it benefits our elementary school students, there’s no doubt about it that the experience is more than the material things.”
Thompson said the experience brings a new closeness to the high school students and elementary students, as the kids build a bond in those two hours spent together.