Supermarket Challenge

By Ella Paul, 2024

Published 3/12/2024

On Sunday, February 25th, from 6-8 pm, Cheshire High School club members, athletes, faculty, and groups of friends participated in the annual Supermarket Challenge organized by the Peer Health Educators and their teacher, Mr. Dan Lee. The event was held at the Shoprite in Southington owned and operated by Mr. Don Drust, our CHS football coach, and his family. 

The purpose of the challenge is to create a fun and engaging way for students to get involved in community volunteerism. Ginny Currello, a CHS senior Peer Health Educator on the Project Management team for the challenge explained that “something that was really important while planning [the Supermarket Challenge] was trying to include as many groups of people as possible.” They succeeded at doing so as there were almost twenty participating teams of various student groups. Teams pay $100 to enter the challenge and the goal is to spend all $100 on as many items as possible, especially those needed at the Cheshire Food Pantry. The director of the food pantry, Mr. DeFeo, was in attendance at the event and expressed his gratitude to all CHS students who participated in the event. 

Scores are calculated by adding the exact amount of money spent to the amount of items purchased. This year, the winners were a group of friends and the English Department team was the runner-up. The isles of the store were filled with CHS students displaying friendly competitiveness and many scores were close. CHS senior Ainsley Dziura, a participant on the winning team said “this was [her] third year participating in the Supermarket Challenge and every year [she has] had an amazing time.” She specifically noted that she was so happy to be part of a competition that helps people in her community. 

After the food was packaged and sent to the food pantry, it was weighed and donated to the Cheshire Food Pantry.