Nothing screams Thanksgiving spirit like some friendly competition, and Student Council has proven that with their annual Teacher Turkey contest each November. 

During Teacher Turkey, homeroom classes compete against each other to bring in as much money as possible in order to fund gift cards for families of DHS students in need during the holiday season. The three homerooms with the most donations earn a pie party the week after break. 

Many competitors are homeroom groups, but the Teacher Turkey Championship allows individual teachers — and dogs — to gather donations at lunch and compete against each other. 

This year’s championship competitors were teachers Jessica Fuller and Mike Packard, as well as attendance secretaries Candace Morgan and Tonya Johnston. “I used to do the homeroom (competition), but I don’t have a homeroom anymore, which is why I wanted to do the championship,” Fuller said. 

A new addition to the competition this year was the Teacher Turkey Dog Championship, where service dogs Argo, Layla and Charlie competed for donations at the championship table at lunch. Argo is owned by counselor Kim Drake, Layla is owned by teacher Stacy Pinkerton, and Charlie is owned by teacher Tonia Stoehr. 

Teacher Michelle Forsberg’s homeroom won their competition with $193 in donations, followed by Nathan Bonham’s homeroom with $102, and Carrie Sharpe’s with $76. These three homerooms will be treated with a pie party on Dec. 1. 

Fuller won the championship with $226, and Charlie the service dog brought in $55 to win the dog championship. 

Over $1,500 was raised throughout the week, allowing Student Council to provide gift cards for over 34 families in need. 

“It doesn’t take very much of a contribution from any one person when you have this many people working together to make an amount that makes a difference,” Student Council sponsor Sara Wilson said.