HD Middle School to Open Holiday BARK Store for 12th Year

The students at HD-CAL Middle School are saving up their BARK bucks to shop for presents for loved ones.

The Holiday BARK Store, which was started in 2012, will open to students Dec. 17 through Dec. 19, giving them a chance to spend their BARK bucks, which they’re given for good behavior. The holiday store was originally started by Tammy Schimp, before Carrie Andersen took it over several years later. It'll be set up in a large pod on the south side of the school, as in years past.

Andersen teaches fifth and sixth grade special education students.

BARK stands for "Be Safe, Act Responsibly, Respect Others, Keep Achieving." When they follow these expectations, they receive BARK bucks.

This holiday store is a much larger version of the regular BARK store that's held through the school year on a monthly basis. Andersen said that this store is especially important for students who may not have the opportunity to shop for their loved ones outside of school.

"The joy of this is that some kids never get to shop for gifts, so this gives every single kid the opportunity to do that at the middle school," Andersen said. "It's not as important to some kids that already have these wonderful holidays whereas for some kids, the holidays aren't the best time of year.”

They've already received hundreds of donated items from community members for the store this year — everything from toys to clothes. This is the case every year, Andersen said, adding how important the community involvement is for this project.

Andersen said she wouldn't be able to pull off the annual store without help from retired teacher Liz Carr, who still substitutes at the middle school on a regular basis.