Who says that today’s youth are lazy and self-centered?

Don’t tell that to the Class of 2010 at Slidell High School. They just spent the last month collecting 5,722 cans of non-perishable food to be donated to the Community Christian Concern and Project Christmas.

From Nov. 2 until Nov. 20, Slidell High seniors went door-to-door in their neighborhoods asking people to donate canned food items. They also manned booths outside of local grocery stores asking people to donate food and cash. With money donated by Winn-Dixie and Wal-mart, the students were able to finish their collection by buying $1,150 worth of canned goods, which adds up to 2,000 cans.

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“If not for the generosity of the Slidell community, the senior class would not have been able to collect so many cans,” said Branden Summers, senior class president.

While going door-to-door, Summers said people were very generous.

“All the houses gave me something. Some people loaded me up with eight cans or more,” Summers said.

Community generosity was a factor, but it was also the hard work and dedication of a group of students who wanted to do something good for their city, that and they wanted to win a big intra-school competition.

Every year, Slidell High sets up a competition between classes. There are 12 events throughout the year, and each class tries to win each event to see who comes out on top at the end of the year. Collecting food for charity was one of the events, and the senior class really out did themselves. The seniors collected 5,277 cans, the juniors managed to get 647 cans, and sophomore’s gathered 189 cans, and the freshmen were able to get 119 cans donated to the cause.

Summers said there was also another reason that the Class of 2010 worked so hard on collecting the food. So far they are ahead in the competition. The seniors have won eight of the twelve events, and they want to go for 12 wins by the end of the school year. Summers said there have only been two other senior classes to have perfect scores, the classes of 1990 and 2000.

“We would like to keep up the tradition of a perfect class every 10 years,” Summers said.

Not only did the Class of 2010 break a record for their school, but also according to the folks at Community Christian Concern, the students broke a record for donations.

The students drove four cars filled to overflowing with cans to the CCC in Olde Towne. Summers said that one car was so full, the tire started to look flat.

“When the man who was in charge saw how many cans the senior class and the rest of the school donated, he was stunned,” Summers said.

But Summers said that it wasn’t just the competition he wanted to win. He and his fellow classmates really enjoyed collecting the cans, knowing it would go to people who really needed the food.

“We don’t want people to think kids don’t do anything,” Summers said. “We really do care, and I’m really proud of the senior class. They were dedicated.”