Cereal Box Domino Challenge benefits local food banks

Conestoga Elementary School ended the year with an outdoor activity that gave the entire school something to celebrate, while helping the community. On June 1, Conestoga held a Cereal Box Domino Challenge as students lined up 372 boxes of cereal throughout the playground area. On cue, teacher Lori Graham tipped over the first box, and the whole school watched and cheered as the cereal box “train” snaked along, knocking over one box after another. The unopened boxes of cereal, which were donated by the school community, were then gathered up and given to the Loft Community Partnership and Conestoga Food Bank.

Beth Corl, a reading specialist at the school, got the idea for the cereal box challenge after seeing a video post about a similar event at a school in Michigan. “The kids missed a lot of the ‘fun’ things we usually do towards the end of the school year because of the pandemic, including track and field day and field trips, and I thought this would be something for them to look forward to but also work towards,” she said. “We looked at it as an exercise in kindness and helping people in our community.”

Conestoga students, staff and family members donated the cereal throughout the month of May. Corl posted a running total of the number of boxes collected in the school lobby to inspire the students, and she enlisted 15 fifth-graders to help set up the event and make sure it ran smoothly. They kept watch to make sure the boxes didn’t blow over and stepped in to assist when the domino train hit a snag.