Breakfast of champions

COEUR d'ALENE — The December character trait at Winton Elementary School is "generosity."

The school has shown its generous nature in spades — or, in this case, 1,389 boxes of cereal.

This was the third year for Winton's Cereal Box Drive, a campaign of generosity sprinkled with healthy competition to collect cereal for the Community Action Partnership Coeur d'Alene Food Bank and The Father’s Market at Heart of the City Church.

"The students collect cereal boxes all month," Winton counselor Brianna Birdsall said Thursday morning.

"It got really competitive among the students and the staff,” she said. “Our families were huge, such a big help. Every year that we’ve done this, we’ve continued to raise more and more.”

The first year the school collected 565 boxes of cereal and last year's bounty was 755 boxes.

"This year nearly doubled," Birdsall said. "We’re so excited.”

The excitement culminated with an all-school morning assembly in the gym, when the teachers of the top cereal box-collecting classrooms had the privilege of knocking over cereal boxes that had been placed upright, domino-style, in the gym.

“Our leadership team has spent the last two days lining them up, carefully," Birdsall said, smiling.

Two first grade classrooms reigned supreme. Kimberly Kibby's students brought in 283 boxes to win first place and Erin Barrett's kids collected 242 boxes.

During the assembly, Birdsall asked everyone who donated cereal to raise their hands.

“Look at how many of us brought in cereal," she said to the crowd. "You contributed to all of this, and you should be proud of yourselves.”

Neal Williams, one of Kibby's students, said he was feeling pretty good when it was announced his class won. He contributed 43 boxes to the contest.

“When she said that it was 283, I was like, 'That’s my class, and that’s awesome!'” he said, victoriously throwing his arms into the air.

Fifth grader Miles Haas, the generosity student of the month, said he was also happy about his school's accomplishments.

“It just feels really good to be here,” he said.

Miles shared how he is generous in his classroom.

“Sometimes, if somebody needs something, I would give it to them," he said. "If somebody needs something and nobody else is doing it, you should probably do it."

    Winton Elementary School students eagerly await domino action as they celebrate their biggest cereal drive yet Thursday morning during an all-school assembly.
  

    Fourth grader Jess Telles and her cheerful schoolmates gleefully welcome students to the gym Thursday morning to celebrate the conclusion of Winton Elementary's Cereal Box Food Drive. The school brought in nearly 1,400 boxes of cereal that will be donated to a local food bank and church market.
  

    Boxes of Chex, shredded wheat, Frosted Flakes, Cap'n Crunch, Cheerios and more are set up like rows of dominoes in the Winton Elementary gym Thursday morning, waiting to be toppled over in celebration of a successful cereal drive.