• Harlandale High School's PAWS club
• Peterson Middle School's Soul Mates club
• Randolph High School's Student Council
• Ms. Boyce's 2nd grade class at Rogers Elementary
• Watts Elementary School's We Serve Too club

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ilver & Black Give Back is honored to announce the five 2011-2012 Team Up Challenge Champions: Harlandale High School's PAWS club, Peterson Middle School's Soul Mates club, Randolph High School's Student Council, Ms. Boyce's 2nd grade class at Rogers Elementary School, and Watts Elementary School's We Serve Too club. Because of their dedication to enriching our community, these five student-led groups each receive $20,000 to continue their work.

Harlandale High School PAWS club rescues stray animals in their neighborhood. With the help of the Team Up Challenge they created satellite clubs called PAWS Partners and PAWS Pals at Harlandale Middle School and Gilbert Elementary School respectively to educate their peers on responsible pet ownership. They have spayed/neutered, micro-chipped and vaccinated 52 stray animals over the past two years. With the $20,000 award they plan to expand the program to other middle and elementary schools is their district, pay off their vet bill, host spay/neuter clinics at their school, and sponsor a mobile spay/neuter van for their district.

Peterson Middle School Soul Mates club began with the goal to educate their community on the issue of hunger. They raised $1,500 with an online Bowls for Souls auction, and used the money to bring the San Antonio Food Bank's Mobile Food Pantry out to Kerrville for the first time. They have fundraised enough to ensure the Mobile Food Pantry will travel to Kerrville six more times. They hosted a Hope on Holdsworth food drive where they lined 1.3 miles of Holdsworth Drive with food items. Every week the group decorates bags with words of encouragement for their local food pantries to hand out to recipients. With the $20,000 Peterson Middle School's Soul Mates will continue to support their local food pantries and continue the program until they graduate in 2017.

Randolph High School's Student Council learned the number one cause of teen death in the United States is automobile accidents. They set out to change that statistic by creating DriveSMART, a program that discourages distracted driving. They hosted a "No Text While Driving" pledge that had over 2,000 signatures, and worked to create a brand that their peers would embrace. To that end, they hand out thumb rings to discouraged texting while driving, hosted a "Black Out" Pep Rally to illustrate the dangers of drinking and driving, and sent out a newsletter each month with information on how to reduce distractions while driving. With the $20,000 champion award, the student council will award DriveSMART grants to other local high schools who would like to start the program at their schools, and maintain the program at Randolph High School for coming years.

Ms. Boyce's 2nd grade class at Rogers Elementary School has one thing in common: they are all planning to be the first in their family to attend college. They hosted College Night at their school, with over 200 people attending, including Mayor Julian Castro. There, the students did college-centered activities like College Bingo with different schools, college races and more. Parents got to sit down and learn more about how to plan for their child's future. The students took a field trip to UT Austin to learn more about college, and 10 of the students in the class have brand new college savings accounts. With the $20,000 Ms. Boyce's 2nd grade class wants to bring College Night to other elementary schools in SAISD and create a College Corner in their library so everyone can learn about college.

Watts Elementary School's "We Serve Too" group is made up of students who have all have a family members deployed over the course of the school year. The group provides students with friends who are going through the same things they are, and creates a network of support at a school with a heavy military population. The students hosted a toy drive for children in Afghanistan who have been victims of the conflict and are currently in military hospitals. They collected over 200 stuffed animals, and close to 200 boxes of crayons and 200 coloring books. With the $20,000 the group plans to make Fly-Away Bags for service men and women leaving on deployment, create a scholarship through Operation Homefront, maintain the club at Watts Elementary School, and expand to the other seven elementary schools in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City school district.

Applications for the 2012 Summer Team Up Challenge are being accepted through May 15. Visit the Applications and Information page to learn more.