Oysterponds students score big in cereal box domino challenge

Oysterponds Elementary school recently held their third annual cereal box domino challenge, collecting 441 boxes of cereal to donate to CAST. Students brought in boxes of cereal for the month of March. The grades were grouped into teams, with the third and fourth grades taking the top prize for most boxes. The challenge is the service learning project for the school.

Veronica Stelzer, school counselor at Oysterponds and the leader for the project, had seen other schools do a similar cereal box domino challenge. “I thought, ‘that looks like a lot of fun.’ We connected with CAST, and they were just so grateful to have what we were doing support their food pantry,” she said.

The challenge was also partly inspired by Ms. Stelzer’s mother, who insisted that she arrive at school with a full stomach, ready to learn. 

“My mom always made me have breakfast before I went to school, whether I wanted to have breakfast or not. She called it my brain food,” said Ms. Stelzer. “So this service learning project, having it be cereal, is a bit inspired from my mom making sure I was fed in the morning for a full school day. But we know that not all families can do that. And we’re here to help.”

Part of the project involves taking a group of students to the food pantry to see the impact the contest is having for the community. This year, the student government took the trip, helping to stock the shelves and see the broader reach of the challenge. 

“It’s full circle, because not only now are they collecting and thinking it’s a fun competition. Now we also are bringing in that second part of, hey, look like this is where we bring it. These are the people that will be enjoying the fruits of your generosity,” said Ms. Stelzer.

Naturally, the big finale is the domino fall. The students set up the cereal boxes in a design on the gym floor and then knock them over in a cascading reaction. The sixth graders get to pick the design, which was the letter R this year, after their team name, the “Rizzios.” The whole set up takes about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how many times the reaction gets started prematurely.

Courtesy images

“Of course, there’s always those two or three cereal boxes that get knocked over and send them falling early. And sometimes that’s fun, because then you hear everybody run over and stop it before it takes the whole line out,” said Ms. Stelzer. “It takes us 20 or 30 minutes to set it all up, right? And then it’s done in less than 30 seconds.”

Ms. Stelzer encourages the children to do what they can. She continues to be impressed with her students and colleagues at Oysterponds. “It doesn’t matter if you bring one box in or you brought 30 boxes in, every box counts, and it’s about the big picture of helping the community,” said Ms. Stelzer. “The generosity of the families and the staff here, it just makes my heart burst. This is what school is all about, teaching and getting excited about doing good for others.”