With the holidays just around the corner, seniors Olivia Herring and Ganon Evans wanted to make the holidays more enjoyable for a fellow Viking. After texting back and forth, they decided to start a GoFundMe page for history teacher Carl Wayne after he was shot while jogging near school, Nov. 29.

“My first thought after he was shot was what we could do to help,” Evans said.

Along with Evans, Herring also wanted the entire community to help Wayne.

“I knew that people in the community would want to give back so I thought a GoFundMe page was the best option to help him,” Herring said.

Both students have had Wayne for history in their high school careers; Evans had him for U.S. History in his freshman year and Herring is currently taking his Modern American Culture class.

The GoFundMe page, titled “Project Wayne’s World”, has a goal of $2,500 for Christmas presents for Wayne and his wife, as well as to help pay for his medical expenses. Students donated $1,627, just five days after it was started.

Evans and Herring were overwhelmed by the reaction to their campaign.

“It’s amazing to see parents, students, and past students give back,” Herring said.

The students faced difficulties trying to set it up due to a tax code regulating donations to teachers.

“It was kind of hard to set up, but once we posted it, it was widely supported by the community. Everyone we’ve spoken to from the student body has been 100% behind it,” Evans said.

Evans hopes that the GoFundMe page can help an important teacher in his life.

“Coming into freshman year, I was a nervous person “coming into this big, bad high school”. Mr. Wayne taught me to be confident and to laugh at myself. He didn’t deserve something so random and violent, so we wanted to give back for all he’s done for us,” Evans said.

Here is the link for the GoFundMe Page:

https://www.gofundme.com/project-waynes-world