JAY — Spruce Mountain High School will be participating in the Channel 13 WGME School Spirit Challenge and Food Drive on Thursday, Oct. 9.

The community is invited to join in.

The Spirit Challenge is a call to eight high schools in Western Maine to compete with each other to collect food and money to benefit the Good Shepherd Food-Bank. The campaign kicked off Sept. 12, and students have until Oct. 31 to continue collecting.

Each school is judged according to the number of pounds of food they collect, with monetary donations counting as five pounds per one dollar. Last year’s winning school managed to collect over 56,000 pounds of food.

A community-wide event will be held at the Apple-Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, Sept. 27, where members of the public are asked to help “Stuff the Bus!”

A school bus will be parked at the recreation field. The community is invited to fill it with as many nonperishable food and drink items as possible. Volunteers will be on hand to collect monetary donations.

On Monday, Sept. 29, the school will host a “We Are the Phoenix” showcase to introduce all of the student activity groups and teams to the community. On the morning of Oct. 9, a massive pep rally will celebrate all of the hard work and community spirit.

To get involved, contact Michelle Brann, SMHS Student Council adviser, by email at mbrann@rsu37.org or by calling the main office and requesting ext. 204.

Upcoming events

* Student Council will host the Homecoming Dance from 9 p.m. to midnight Friday, Oct. 3, in the North campus cafeteria. The DJ will be JR from Q97.9.

* SMHS will hold parent-teacher conferences on Tuesday, Oct. 14, from 3 to 5 and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and on Wednesday, Oct. 15, from 3 to 5 p.m. Progress reports will be mailed home beforehand. Call the high school office at 897-4336 to make appointments.

* Athletics at Spruce Mountain High School:

Monday, Sept. 22: freshman field hockey at Leavitt, 4 p.m.; golf at Gardiner, 3:30 p.m.;

Tuesday, Sept. 23: field hockey at Mt. View, 4 p.m. varsity, 5:30 p.m. junior varsity; girls soccer home vs. MCI, 3:30 p.m. varsity, 5 p.m. JV; boys soccer at MCI, 3:30 p.m. varsity, 5 p.m. JV.

Wednesday, Sept. 24: golf home vs. Lincoln Academy, 3:30.

Thursday, Sept. 25: field hockey home vs. Morse, 4 p.m. varsity, 5:30 p.m. JV.

Friday, Sept. 26: varsity football at Cape Elizabeth, 7 p.m.; girls soccer at Maranacook, junior varsity 4 p.m., varsity 6 p.m.; boys soccer home vs. Maranacook, 3:30 varsity, 5 p.m. JV.

Saturday, Sept. 27: freshmen field hockey at Gardiner, 10 a.m.