It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or so the song goes. Everyone is happily buying and wrapping gifts to present to their loved ones under the tree on Christmas morning. For those who are confined to the hospital, however, Christmas morning is like any other day. To try and make those in the INOVA Fairfax hospital system a little bit merrier, however, students from a Northern Virginia high school have gathered gifts for some of the patients.

Students from the Falls Church High School Academy Class’s Medical Assistant class, which is part of the Governor’s Health Science program at Falls Church High School, got together to put together and stuff over seventy stockings for sick kids at INOVA Children’s Hospital. The students, who are only high schoolers themselves, spent their own free time and resources to buy gifts and other items to stuff the stockings. Only one class day was used on the project, and that was on the final stuffing project. 

One student, Maryam Mahdi, told the Falls Church Patch that “Kids there aren't able to leave the hospital so we thought we could make their time there better, bring the joy to them”. 

Each of the three Medical Assistant classes at Falls Church High School was given a choice of what population they wanted to give presents to in the hospital - infants/toddlers, elementary-school aged children, and teenagers. A student from the class who chose the teens, Nuran El-Aleah commented, “We chose the high schoolers, the teenage group, because we felt like we could relate to them and thought about what we would want if we were in there ourselves". The students took the opportunity to think about how blessed they were to be at home for the holidays, and spread some happiness to those who would be stuck in a hospital room on the 25th. 

This marks the fifth year that students from Falls Church High School Academy Class’s Medical Assistant classes have brought gifts to patients at INOVA Fairfax. It’s the time of year to spread happiness, said student Cindy Ochoa: "We're hoping we can bring them some happiness, especially knowing that it's strangers that still care about them. It's worth taking the time to do it and bring them some positive news. That’s part of the reason we chose to also include books that have inspirational quotes and support, let's deliver them some positive news.”