Two International Baccalaureate students at King’s Fork High School hope to stoke the competitive spirits of their classmates to collect as many shoes for the needy as possible.

Lindsay Carlesi and Emma Taylor-Fishwick are running a shoe drive for a CAS (creativity, action, service) project as part of their IB studies.

“We just thought it was a good idea,” Carlesi said.

“My friend had told me about it. We were all discussing new things to do and what would be a good idea — and what’s never happened for a CAS project before.”

The teens have placed a collection bag or box in each classroom, and students have been encouraged to bring in unneeded — at least by them — pairs of shoes through this week and next week.

At the end of the two weeks, Carlesi and Taylor-Fishwick will reward the first-block class that collects the most shoes with doughnuts.

“Food’s the best way to go,” Carlesi said.

One doesn’t have to be a student to contribute. Carlesi said anyone in the community could drop by King’s Fork High with shoes for the less fortunate.

“Some people just don’t realize what you are missing until you don’t have it,” she said.

Taylor-Fishwick brings her connections to the charity effort. “My mom knows a person in Suffolk who’s been distributing shoes,” she said.

“I know she’s been working with churches.”

Getting the school community involved in the shoe drive is a challenge, the students say. “A lot of people just don’t listen to announcements,” Taylor-Fishwick said.

“We have put up fliers all around the school, and we have talked to teachers. We put it on Facebook.”