Bearden’s SGA and Leadership classes have recently paired with the Kingston Overlook Chick-Fil-A to complete a series of projects for a leadership academy. One of the four projects to be completed by SGA is packing food bags for a local food bank.

“We got all the supplies from them, and there are beans, bags of loose beans and rice and stuff in bags, and we have to work as a team to fill the food bags basically in a certain amount of time,” SGA sponsor and Leadership teacher Mrs. Rebecca Nutter said.

SGA is planning to complete this project on Sept. 19 after school. They will package the food into bags, and then Chick-Fil-A will send them out to the food banks.

“It involves an assembly line process where we have cups of rice, beans, and lentils, and we pack them into bags and we put a label on them and Chick-Fil-A will be shipping them to the local food bank that we are donating to,” junior class president Zachary Jones said.

The idea came from Marshall Wilkins, the owner of the Kingston Overlook Chick-Fil-A. He contacted principal Dr. John Bartlett and told him about Chick-Fil-A’s leadership development program inside their company. They are encouraged to bring their leadership development projects and activities to a high school level.

“As I collected information about the program, I quickly realized it was a win-win for our student body,” Dr. Bartlett said. “Chick-Fil-A becomes a member of the Bearden High School family, and our students gain valuable leadership skills and lessons from one of the world’s premier corporations.”

Students in SGA and Leadership will be able to take what Chick-Fil-A teaches their employees and apply it to their age group. Bearden is able to use the skills that Chick-Fil-A puts into their leadership development program and format it in order to fit high school standards.