CHS’ student government association (SGA) will host the first ever Turkey Trot walk and carnival Nov. 28 to promote school and community spirit.

The Turkey Trot event will consist of a five kilometer walk, followed by a carnival with games and other activities for CHS students and families to participate in.

“Our hope is that we will have a two-part event,” junior class sponsor Jonathan Lee said. “From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. we are going to have a 5K which will happen on the CHS track. Afterwards, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. we’re hoping to do a carnival which will have various fun events like face painting, apple bobbing, a corn hole tournament and a cake walk.”

Turkey Trot 5K races are common around the United States and are used as a way to celebrate Thanksgiving while raising money and food for the less fortunate during the holiday season. At CHS, the event will be an opportunity to build spirit and connect the school with the community as well.

“[We] wanted to have an event in the fall, but we had a gap between Homecoming and what we [will] do in the spring,” Lee said. “The Turkey Trot falls in line because it is a very popular idea around the nation.”

In addition to SGA involvement, individual CHS clubs will participate in the event by advocating their club’s cause and planning games for people to do while at the event.

“The clubs will be advertising their [causes] through tables and games,” junior class president Payam Moayed said. “[People] can walk around and talk to each club and learn more.”

The event planning will be a collective effort from all grade levels of SGA rather than each grade performing different duties. SGA will try to attract community members, students and their families to come to the Turkey Trot.

“The juniors and sophomores are spearheading the planning of the event itself,” sophomore class sponsor Karen Yeagle said. “They will be finding clubs to help run the booths, getting local businesses to donate prizes and getting students as well as community members to come to the event.”

As with any new event, there are challenges in the planning and funding process. The biggest obstacle will be trying to attract the most amount of participants for the 5K and carnival in a short planning period.

“Advertising, getting the word out to people in such a short amount of time and getting the cluster schools involved [will be the biggest challenges],” Yeagle said. “We want to get the neighboring high schools and their clusters involved and to showcase to the community that this is not cluster or Churchill exclusive.”

Although there will be challenges, SGA leaders and class sponsors are excited to see the outcome of their hard work at the Turkey Trot.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the community get involved, seeing more than just the high school kids and seeing families come and have fun at the different events that are set up,” Yeagle said.

In addition to SGA leaders at CHS, students are looking forward to the event as well. If everything goes according to plan, the Turkey Trot will be an annual event at CHS.

“I’m most excited for the run,” CHS schoolwide SGA president and senior Precious Melchizedek said. “[The participants] will have a lot of support waiting for them at the finish line.”