From March 28 to April 4, Marlow High School Student Council (StuCo) hosted its annual philanthropy week, Marlow Outlaws Reaching Out To Others (MOROTO), where students raised money for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) of Stephens County.

MOROTO is a fundraising event held annually for the students of Marlow High School to raise money towards a non-profit organization that was chosen earlier in the year by members of Student Council.

DAV is a non-profit organization that spreads the importance of serving and benefiting those affected by their time in the US military.

MOROTO week was originally created in 2018 by senior Jaret Perkins who was inspired by other schools’ philanthropy weeks and decided to create his own at MHS.

Not only is the week for a good cause, but it also puts the classes against one another to see who can raise the most money.

Junior Abbey Witt is a three-year student council member and was elected Student Council President in April last year.

“MOROTO is important because it brings our school together and helps us rally behind different organizations,” Witt expressed. “It’s a good way to get the school involved with the community.”

StuCo created multiple ways to raise money, starting with coin wars.

During the coin wars, pennies and dollars were considered positive and brought the score up; however, silver coins were negative and could bring a grade’s score down.

The first event of the year that benefited MOROTO week was the first coin war held Nov. 15 to 19; sophomores raised the most money and were awarded a movie day.

Next was another coin war held on March 29 through March 31 where each grade competed once again and that time, the freshmen were awarded an extra fifteen minutes during lunchtime for raising the most coins.

Other competitions were held in order to raise money, including a chain sale, an art contest, volleyball and dodgeball tournaments.

Chain sales began on March 21 and ended on April 1, a two-week period where each grade could buy a link to a chain made out of construction paper for one dollar, and the grade with the longest chain won.

The grade with the longest chain was the juniors, and following behind the Class of 2023 were the sophomores, freshmen and seniors in last.

The art contest consisted of students submitting a piece of art of any form for a fee of five dollars throughout a two week period ending on Wednesday, March 23.

A teacher from an outside school anonymously judged the contest, and the winner was senior Braxton Ramsey, who won half of the total entry fees, or a total of seventy dollars.

The Student Council branded three Wednesdays strung across the month of March as “1K Wednesdays” held on March 2, 23 and 30.

Bake sales and hat days were a part of the 1K Wednesdays to help raise the daily money goal of $1,000.

Finally, on Monday, April 4, a reveal assembly was held at 1 p.m. to showcase the money raised for each event.

The total money raised in support of MOROTO Week was $9,501 which was presented to DAV at the reveal assembly.

“This year’s MOROTO Week was probably the most fun, and revealing how much was raised was an exciting moment,” Witt conveyed.

The grade who raised the most money was the juniors who were awarded a trophy; last year the Class of 2023 also came out on top for the largest contribution.

The amount raised for the 2021-2022 MOROTO Week is one of the highest amounts ever raised during the event.

“Student Council is excited for next year since it’s going to be a challenge to beat this year’s amount of money raised,” Witt explained.

While MOROTO week may be over, MHS will continue to encourage philanthropy amongst its students.