The “Souper Bowl” trophy made it way back across the bridge as Springdale Junior-Senior High School came out on top over Riverview Junior-Senior in their annual food drive competition.

The homage to the National Football League’s showcase event kicked off in February. Springdale collected 1,600 items, and Riverview came up slightly short with 1,500. In addition to the donated goods, cash to buy gift cards for food banks was collected by the students

“It makes them feel seen, and it benefits a lot of people,” Springdale English teacher Dayna Hrin said.

Springdale students and administrators were able to enjoy the fruits of victory on March 24: As the “losing” team, Riverview administrators had to don Springdale’s orange-and-black colors for the day. Both schools packed vans and cars to deliver their donations to their respective food banks.

Lower Valley Community Food Bank and United Methodist Church Food Bank in Verona will receive the donations.

Riverview Principal Eric Hewitt said the administrators are already looking forward to next year’s competition.

“We are eager to get started on this next year to get the trophy back,” he said.

Riverview English Teacher Michelle Walsh said the competition was created when covid restricted attendees from attending rivalry sporting events between the schools. The students created a friendly competition to bring everyone together for a a sense of social connection, she said, while giving back to the community.

“The competition is fun, and the trophy is fun move back and forth across the bridge,” Walsh said. “Both districts love it, and these friendly competitions help foster global citizen ideas. We can help each other.”

The effort was created through a collaboration between Springdale’s student-led organization The Future Is Mine and the Riverview student council. This is the second year the schools have held the competition. Riverview won the Souper Bowl trophy last year. Both schools collected more than 4,000 cans.

Students hit the ground running using social media and outreach efforts to help pull in donations.

“It gets people excited to give back to their community,” Callie Harden, a Riverview junio,r said.

Springdale senior Isabella Walsh, The Future Is Mine president, said she enjoys seeing the schools come together for a good cause.

“My favorite part is giving back because that’s the main thing, and becoming one as schools,” she said.

Aside from the competitive nature of the initiative and sweet victory, Springdale Principal Andy Leviski said he enjoys seeing the students step up to give back to their community.

“It is good to see kids being leaders, and that’s the most important piece,” he said.

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