OHS held the annual underwear war this year with hopes of beating the current champions, Mehlville.

After Mehlville took the trophy for the most donated socks and underwear by a small margin in 2010, Oakville’s enthusiasm and competitive need to succeed have brought out some true donor contenders. Every ANP (academic networking period) class competed to obtain the most donations, decorating boxes and encouraging students with the reward of beating the rival and a treat for the winning ANP.

Lizzy Vitale(11) saw the underwear war as an opportunity to give back, donating a total of 519 pairs of underwear and socks to the drama room ANP.

“Personally I brought in 18 pairs of socks, the rest of the credit I owe to Operation Home Front,” Vitale said.

Operation Home Front is an organization dedicated to giving back to the community.

“I volunteer there with my dad, and I noticed they had roughly four palettes of underwear cases stored,” Vitale said. “I asked them if they would donate some and they went far beyond my expectations.”

“I was expecting to get maybe 280 pairs,” Vitale said. “Originally I thought each palette carried 70-75 pairs tops.”

To her surprise, the total came out to be 501 pairs of underwear, amounting five large trash bags full of donations for her ANP, along with the 18 pairs she had already donated.

Ms. Amy Learn, the drama room ANP teacher, was thrilled when she received the news.

“I’m excited!” Learn said. “I am always the ANP loser, and I just know this year we will have the most underwear and socks to give.”

Following the donation of 519, Learn has had active participation in her ANP. The class’s final amount surpassed 1500 pairs of socks and underwear in the drama ANP alone.

“It’s just really nice to see the group participation, this year is way more motivated than some of my previous ANP classes, and it’s all for such a good cause,” Learn said.