NewsWest 9
ODESSA - We've been hearing a lot about high school rivalries on the West Texas gridiron. This week but there's another competition you probably haven't heard about that's just as intense. This face-off is with a school on the other side of the world.
"I went to Kenya last summer, while I was there they had to stop building the foundation of high school because they needed $60,000," High School Student, Nichole Davidson, said.
18-year-old Nicole Davidson came back and kept thinking of those kids in Kenya. She knew that the school was their way of getting food and an education.
"Without it, the women are forced to get married at the age of 13 and most likely they will have a child by 14," Davidson said.
So she decided to do something to raise the money in Odessa to help get that school finished. She got her friends together and started selling t-shirts and taking donations. She calls the project "Friday Night Hope" and what a better way than to involve both OHS and Permian in a little competition to raise the money.
"The winning school will have a mascot, represented for the school in Africa. If Permian wins, they will be a Panthers, if OHS wins, they'll be Broncos," Davidson said.
She has even provided people with a way they can text to donate. People can text 52000 and the word child for Odessa High School. For Permian, you can text 52000 and the word kid for Permian.
$10.00 will be charged to the person's phone bill but she has even gotten some local help to get the word out.
"Anytime students take a leadership role, we try to encourage that," Robert Simmons with Sewell Ford Odessa, said.
So Sewell Ford has donated the advertising for Friday night's game for Friday Night Hope and during the halftime show, they will announce the total money that both schools raised and the winning mascot.
