“For the cows!” a group of seniors began to chant. 

The tension in Room 209 was building. As two seniors sat down across a table from each other, they steeled themselves. Elijah Jointer and John McKeon stared across the table, sizing each other up. 

As Division teacher Mr. Nathan Roy approached the side of the table, students crowded opposite him. The atmosphere was just right for an arm-wrestling match for charity. 

The idea for arm wrestling for charity in Division class was born on the whim of senior Elliott Lewis, coming up with the idea off the top of his head.

“What if we made bets for the charity,” proposed Lewis. Lewis’s statement came in response to Mr. Roy’s remark that the group’s mission collection donations were lackluster. Mr. Roy had even offered to match the donations of students if they reached twenty-five total dollars donated in a month. This failed miserably, with the students only mustering half of the sum to be matched. 

Lewis’s sudden thought had great merit, though, and Mr. Roy immediately began working to capitalize off of this unexpected stroke of genius. 

So far, after only two weeks of arm-wrestling for charity, mission collection in Mr. Roy’s division class, made up exclusively of seniors, has seen mission donations increase from an average of two measly dollars weekly to over twenty dollars per week. 

Mr. Roy is very pleased with the results so far. “In the first two weeks of arm-wrestling, the class has raised over ten times as much money as the previous two weeks,” said Mr. Roy. “It helps that the guys have more incentive to donate, and it also makes division class a lot more entertaining.”

As a result of a vote in the early second trimester when each Division was tasked with selecting from a number of charities to put their donations toward, Mr. Roy’s Division class decided to donate their mission collections to the organization Heifer International, hence the “For the Cows” chant. Heifer international provides disadvantaged families around the world with livestock such as goats, water buffaloes, and, of course, cows. The philosophy behind donating cows to disadvantaged people is that the livestock offers an opportunity for milk, meat and profit by selling those two commodities. All but two of Mr. Roy’s Division students voted for Heifer International.

While the concept behind the arm-wrestling for charity is similar to betting, it is not actually placing bets on the winners. Everyone who wants to participate brings one dollar, and if the person they bet on wins, they keep their dollar. The people who bet on the losing contestant donate their dollar, and the next round starts with only the people who still have their dollar betting. The last person to donate their dollar for the day is considered the winner. There are an average of five matches per division class.

The seniors in this Division definitely enjoy the matches, chanting for their friends and classmates. 

“It’s definitely more fun than before,” said senior Jimmy Collins. “It’s nice to break up the monotony of Division class.”

Due to the success of the arm-wrestling matches so far, Mr. Roy plans to continue the matches.

“It just makes sense to keep going with the arm wrestling since we’ve raised so much more money,” said Mr. Roy. “It would be foolish to abandon such a successful idea, especially since all of the money is going to charity.”

It is fortunate that this new arm-wrestling idea came just in time for the mission collections to be directed to a very worthy cause, Special Olympics. As of this week, mission collections, dress down donations, and the proceeds from the February 24 teacher dunk tank will all be donated to the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. 

Despite the apparent barbarism and rowdiness of arm-wrestling during Division class, the real motives are compassion and kindness, helping those less fortunate in the world, and fulfilling the call to be Men of Carmel. 

And doing it for the cows.