Williamsburg Independent students help fund local teenager’s wish

14-year-old Gunnar Queen recently won his battle with leukemia.

A group of students from Williamsburg Independent School have been working to help make a local student’s wish come true through a variety of fundraising efforts as part of a partnership with the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy.

The leader academy is a national high school leadership program focused on impact through action, according to a release. Each month, students gather to learn leadership principles through lessons called Leader Labs. The Leader Labs give students practical tools needed to make a positive influence, such as creating student-led community projects.

According to the academy’s website, over 1,100 schools across 40 states and more than 200,000 students are involved in the academy.

At Williamsburg Independent, the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy is comprised primarily of students from the school’s gifted and talented program. As part of their end-of-year project, students in the academy decided to help fund a wish trip for someone through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is an amazing foundation that grants wishes to children with critical illnesses. The granted wish is far more than just a trip or gift, as it represents a beacon of hope for the children and families who have or are facing unimaginable circumstances.

In Kentucky alone, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has over 400 children that have been promised a wish. Of that number, 131 of those children are from eastern Kentucky.

Williamsburg’s academy students were able to play a role in helping bring one of those wishes to fruition. According to Kristy Stewart, gifted and talented coordinator at Williamsburg Independent, students have been doing a number of fundraisers over the past few weeks and have more planned. As of last week, approximately $3,000 had been raised of their $5,000 goal.

The money will be used to pay back the Make-A-Wish Foundation for a South Laurel student’s wish. That student, 14-year-old Gunnar Queen, recently won his battle with leukemia.

He is an avid fan of a variety of sports and wanted to be able to attend a sporting event with his family. The Make-A-Wish Foundation recently approved Queen’s wish and his family is anticipated to attend their event sometime in the coming weeks.

To celebrate Queen’s wish being granted, Williamsburg’s Chick-fil-A Leader Academy students held a send-off party last Thursday at Cinema Social in Corbin. The students got to meet Queen for the first time, as well as several of his friends and family members. During the party, everyone was invited to bowl, eat pizza and fellowship with one another.

Stewart said she was proud of the work that her students have put into this project.

Over the past several weeks, classes throughout the school building have been holding “penny wars” to see who can collect the most pennies. That money has been also been used to repay the foundation for funding Queen’s wish.

Fundraising efforts will continue throughout the remainder of the school year, with a staff versus student basketball charity game being planned currently.

Stewart also wanted to make sure to thank WD Bryant in Williamsburg for donation buckets for the penny war fundraiser, as well as Cinema Social for hosting the sendoff party.

For more information on the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, visit www.chickfilaleaderacademy.com. For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit www.wish.org.