When Wiscasset High School won WGME’s Spirit Challenge in 2014, the town had just decided to break away from Regional School Unit 12. Now, after becoming Wiscasset Midde High School this year, the school known as small but mighty is poised for another run at the cup.

“I think it’s going to bring everybody together. It did that last time,” Student Council President Daren Wood said at the school Monday. “It boosted the morale, and I think it’ll do that this time.”

Sophomore Lindsey Gordon and senior Samantha Arsenault are looking forward to the televised rally, one of the highlights of the weeks-long challenge. “The first time, the whole town was there, it looked like. I’ve never seen the gym so packed. I thought that was so neat,” Gordon recalled.

“There was a lot of energy,” Arsenault said.

The contest that raises money and food for Good Shepherd Food Bank will again be a way for the school and the rest of the community to work together, according to those interviewed. The Portland television station has confirmed that Wiscasset Middle High School is in, WMHS technology coordinator Deb Pooler said.

Besides the town’s move from three schools to two, Pooler cited a number of other changes that have made this, like before, a time of transition, and a good time for everyone to band together, in school spirit, for a good cause.

The school’s new principal Peg Armstrong came aboard in October; and Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot is also new this year, Pooler noted; not only that, this year, the school department stopped using RSU 12’s business office and opened its own, she said.

“To me, (the Spirit Challenge) is a real opportunity for all of us to get together to show support for our community, but more importantly show support for our kids.

“If we don’t win, we don’t win. But we’re going to make a big effort,” Pooler continued. “We’re going to make a great effort.”

Each season of the contest, multiple schools collect food, and money to buy food, for Good Shepherd Food Bank. The cup goes to the school raising the most pounds of food. The money donations are figured by the amount of food they will buy.

In its win two winters ago, Wiscasset High raised 58,662 pounds of food. Students, staff, families, businesses and others helped with fundraisers and the early morning rally in Stover Auditorium. On March 7, 2014, a contingent of students went to the station’s studio and learned that the school had won the cup. Later that morning, other students and the school’s staff stood outside as the group arrived back under local police and fire escort with the cup.

WGME 13 Good Day Maine anchor Jeff Peterson brought up the win when he and Good Shepherd event and marketing manager Julie Guerrette met with a group of students Tuesday in the Wiscasset Middle High library.

“You guys pulled off the upset of the century,” Peterson said. “You were up against some of the biggest schools in the state.” He recalled the school’s reaction as emotional, at the studio and then the return to town with the cup.

“It was like you guys had won the Stanley Cup.”

Peterson now uses Wiscasset as an example when other small schools question their ability to compete with larger ones.

He emphasized that although the Spirit Challenge is a contest, the most important part is the food it yields. One in four Maine children is food insecure, he said.

Guerrette told students, “(That) means they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. They could go home and not see food in the cabinets, and it’s scary.”

It also is not good for learning, Guerrette continued. It’s hard to be at school with a headache and an empty stomach, she said.

“We’re going to make a dent in hunger in Maine,” Pooler said Monday about the new season of the challenge. “This is a good town. This is a really good town. When somebody’s in need, this town steps up.”

Students interviewed echoed that sentiment. Seniors, who were sophomores when the school first competed, and sophomores, who helped as eighth graders, including at the rally, uniformly said the food drive is more important than the cup the winner gets.

“I’m hoping for even more outreach to the community this time,” senior Trent Shorey said. He plans to meet soon with WIlmot and School Committee Chairman Steve Smith to talk about how they can help.

“We have a really nice community when it comes to donating for things,” Shorey said.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Shorey asked if donations to the Spirit Challenge are tax write-offs. They are, Peterson and Guerrette. The food bank sends donors a thank you that people can use for their taxes, Guerrette said.

That was a smart question, Peterson added.

In an email Nov. 14, Wilmot states that she is very excited about the upcoming Spirit Challenge. “It is another opportunity for us to partner with local and neighboring businesses to support the community and the Good Shepherd Food Bank. The (food bank) directly impacts our students through our locally supported ‘Feed Our Scholars’ backpack program,” Wilmot adds.

When the school first competed, Remy Segovia was going to school in Mount Dora, Florida. Now he is Wiscasset’s senior class president. “I wasn’t here for the last (contest), so this is a new experience for me,” he said. “But I do have a lot of school spirit, probably one of the ones with the most. This is very exciting ... and we’re doing this for the food, it’s not about winning.”

Pooler praised the students for their enthusiasm and their work ethic heading into the contest.

“They’re amazing. I’m super-excited to have these kids to work with.”

Asked what they thought about getting to work with Pooler on it, the students had immediate answers, all positive. “She’s my go-to teacher,” Gordon said.

The Spirit Challenge will run Jan. 1 through Feb. 28. The school can start getting word out before then that it will be doing the drive, but no collecting can take place prior to Jan. 1, Guerrette said.

Guerrette and Peterson had other cautions and advice for the school Tuesday.

Plug the rally through social media and get leaders of school sports and other activities to come out to it; if they do, most other students will show up, also, Peterson said. He suggested asking a car dealer to donate a car as a fundraiser; a virtual food drive can also bring in a large sum, Guerrette said.

Every dollar donated in connection with the Spirit Challenge buys the food bank $5 in food, so it goes farther for the food bank than food donations, and does more to up a school’s total pounds collected, she said.

While fundraising efforts can tap into technology, there is no discounting the value of one strategy Wiscasset students used last time, going door-to-door, Peterson told the group.

There is nothing like a face-to-face with a smiling person in a red shirt, he said.

Other schools in the upcoming Spirit Challlenge are Hall-Dale, Rangeley, Noble, Gray-New Gloucester, Yarmouth and Lisbon. Wilmot came to the Wiscasset superintendent’s job from Lisbon, where she served as assistant superintendent.

Wilmot planned to make a friendly call to her former employer about the Spirit Challenge. “It’s a win-win for everyone,” she said about taking part in the contest-food drive.

The station was still seeking to fill an eighth slot in the contest.

The Spirit Challenge is open to high schools, so, at Wiscasset Middle High, the grades directly involved will be grades nine through 12, Guerrette said. Grades seven and eight can help, however, along with the community, she said.

In a change from Wiscasset’s first time around, the rallies on Good Day Maine now run from 6 to 8 a.m., with the first hour on WGME 13 and the second hour on Fox 23, Peterson said.

The rally at Wiscasset Middle High is Jan. 22, Pooler said.