Winter Madness is one of the most generous and thoughtful events at Ames High. Throughout the past week, Student Council held different activities at Ames High in order to raise money. “All the proceeds that we make during Winter Madness will go to help four MICA families,” Student Council Co-president senior Ben Ruppert said. After the all the money from the change drive and other activities is collected, student council goes to Target and picks out gifts from the families’ wish lists. “It’s a really good feeling to leave with four overflowing carts of presents for the families,” senior Mandy Winkleblack said. Following Target, student council wraps the presents and sends them off to the MICA office, which then gives them to the families. Dec. 11 there was a movie shown at 7 p.m. at Ames High. Students gathered together in the multipurpose room to watch Cool Runnings. Then, Dec. 13, during lunch, Quiz Bowl fought various groups of Ames High teachers in the Battle of the Brains. Also, all week there was a bake sale in the front lobby selling candy canes, called Crush Canes, and a variety of other treats. Tonight, at 6:30 p.m. the doors will open for the Holiday Holibaloo concert. For only $4, people can rock out to the Keepers of the Carpet, Stuck with Arthur, Ludarae, Instant Karma, and Bombardier. Along with the concert is the Asian Club Date auction. Students should be sure to bring their wallets. Real and Honorary Asian Beauties will be auctioned off between bands. Wern Ong, Mythili Prabhu, Yeil Park, and JoJo Fabiosa are just some of the desirable dates on the auctioning list. “What more could you want? You have some boppin’ jams and Asians for sale. I’m going to buy one,” senior Jacob Pleasants said. The week also featured a sixth period change drive. Every sixth period class competed to donate the most money. “It’s really neat to see classes pull through and contribute a lot of money,” Winkleblack said. At the end of today, Winkleblack will total the money and announce the winner. “We are hoping to raise around $1200,” Ruppert said, “We want to spend around 250-400 dollars per family,”. “This is my third time doing the change drive, so it’s pretty straight forward,” Winkleblack said. “But it’s still amazing how we can raise money for these families in need each year.”