'Kick the Can'

Oct. 2—NORWALK — When St. Paul and Monroeville meet in their annual football showdown Oct. 21 at Marsh Field, there will be another competition going on.

It will be a form of "Kick the Can" between the Teen Leadership Corps (TLC) classes at each school.

"We're doing a battle of the cans," said Chloe "Smitty" Smith, a junior at St. Paul. "We are going to have two trucks with each team's canned food. When you come to the game you can set them in the resprective trucks."

The school that collects the most canned food will be the winner, but in this case everybody will be a winner as all of the food will be donated the those who need it.

Smith said St. Paul will start collecting its food on Oct. 10.

Darren Conley is the new TLC teacher at St. Paul

"We are all super pumped to have him this year," Smith said. "We all really enjoy it ... it's a lot of fun."

What other projects has the TLC class done this year?

"Our big one we just did was the homecoming bonfire," Smith said. "It was the first one at the school in a long time. We were really happy with the turnout and the plan is to have it every year."

Rachel Paul is in her sixth year as TLC teacher at Monroeville.

"At the high school we are going to start collecting cans Oct. 10," Paul said. "This was St. Paul and Darren Conley who started this. We can't take credit for it.

"They are going to donate it to either the Norwalk Food Bank or First Harvest in Vermilion. It's giving back to the community. That's always a win-win."

What do the students get out of the TLC class in Monroeville?

"It teches the kids how to organize and give back to the community," Paul said. "Leadership skills. Find out what they are passionate about."