One of the best things about the success of Demopolis City Schools in the tremendous amount of community support the schools get. People help the schools through donations and giving of their time and resources.

On Monday, the students at Westside Elementary School will kick off their Fun Run Tiger Rally, a school-wide fund-raiser that will help the school pay for a new playground system.

Students will seek pledges and donations for their part in the Tiger Rally. People may make a single donation or pledge a certain amount of money for the activity sets that the student completes on the day of the Tiger Rally.

The Tiger Rally will take place at the school on Friday, March 5, and is always a lot of fun. Students will take part by performing as many of the activities that they can in their hour-long physical education period.

These activities aren’t quite Olympian in nature, but may seem as challenging as the activities on “American Gladiator.” The students will do multiple sets of jumping jacks, power walking, a relay race and an obstacle course to help earn funding for their school. A little later in the school year, U.S. Jones Elementary School will have its Tiger Rally.

The students will earn a little something for their efforts as well, besides the new playground system. The top donations collector will receive a DS Lite value bundle, while the second-place overall prize is an iPod Shuffle. Not bad for helping your school.

When you see these student taking pledges or donations, do your part by pledging something to help our local schools. Improved schools lead to improved students, and that is something that our community will benefit from. Donate to the Tiger Rally and help rally our future Tigers to better schools and better students.

David B. Snow is the managing editor of the Demopolis Times.