The 11th annual King & Queen of Hearts fundraiser ended on Thursday, Feb. 14, with the winners being crowned during B block. Five senior boys and five senior girls competed for the crown by raising money for two weeks to benefit the American Heart Association, with the winner being decided by who collected the most money. This year’s King & Queen of Hearts are Wesley Brewer and Jordon Johnson.

At its core, the King & Queen of Hearts is solely about raising money for the American Heart Association. The winners don’t receive any benefits; they only gain their respective titles as well as the knowledge that they’ve helped their community. This demonstrates their passion for community service.

“It shows they want to get involved and they want to raise [money for] something that’s important,” senior community service officer Yesenia Regalado said.

The King & Queen of Hearts contest is among the long list of fundraisers StuCo hosts throughout the year. The StuCo advisers prefer to emphasize charity and teach their students about the importance of charity because of its wide range of positive effects.

“It’s all about giving to others,” StuCo adviser Allison Stamey said. “You really do have a better life by giving through other people. That’s why we [raise money for] the American Heart Association, Angel Tree, the canned food drive, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and all the other things we do.”

Johnson had a personal connection to the fundraiser because her family has a long history of heart disease. This made the campaign and the win more personal and meaningful to her. It gave her the chance to raise money for those who have been affected by heart issues.

“After having a long genetic history of heart problems that run in my family, [the King & Queen of Hearts fundraiser] was a good opportunity to be able to help others who also deal with [heart problems],” Johnson said.

The nominees went head to head to raise the most money for the fundraiser, with the competitive aspect unifying them toward a common goal. Their combined efforts raised more than $2,000 for the American Heart Association.

“[Raising money for charity is] definitely important because it creates a sense of school unity and school pride, even though we’re all competing against each other,” Brewer said.

Hosting fundraisers like the King & Queen of Hearts allows for participants to become involved in community service and develop their character. They had the opportunity to learn valuable life lessons through the experience of serving their community.

“I feel really good because it wasn’t really about winning,” Brewer said. “I’m a competitive person and everyone likes to win, but it’s really about the charity when it comes down to it. It’s really cool to compete for a good cause because none of the money is coming back to us, it’s all just going to the charity.”