by Mercedes Scarbrough
Warm weather and three hours of time in the community were the perfect combination for seniors on Sept. 23. Sophomores and juniors were required to take the practice ACT, so seniors used that time for community service.
In a first-year pilot project, seniors volunteered around the community. Each seminar had a specific place to volunteer with 10-20 students attending at each location.
Each community service project had a variety of different activities from helping around the school to organizing a fundraiser for Children’s Mercy patients.
On-site activities ranged from organizing a fundraiser for Childrens Mercy patients to working on the trails at Shawnee North Community Center.
At the trails, students reinforced walls with rock and wire to stop erosion problems.
Seniors volunteering at the Helping Hands cleaned windows, made toys and packaged toys with treats for cats and dogs.
“I thought it was a really great experience, and I hope that we can do it another time during the semester because I enjoyed myself,” said Tyler Miller. “I don’t really get to do much volunteer work and it shows people what others have to do in different jobs.”
Students who volunteered at the zoo helped set up tables for weekend events. After the hard work, the kids got to play with the lorakeets.
Students who went to SCARS got the enviable task of playing with the dogs. Some even swam with their new furry friends.
Here We Grow Again provided jobs like moving chairs, tables, washing windows, labeling boxes and baskets.
Mr. Figgs’ seminar brought canned goods as a donation to Harvesters. The Harvester organization will distribute more than three millions pounds of donated food and household supplies each month, and seminar kids got a small taste of that workload.
The kids loaded boxes with supplies for the less fortunate.
Logan Elementary third graders practiced reading skills and played math games with high school students.
“I think the best part of the whole day was being able to spend time with the kids and just talking to them. It honestly was amazing just seeing the joy that came to their faces when we would talk to them,” said Clinton Thurlow
Mr. Crome students volunteered at Camp Hammond getting it ready for winter. Their activity involved hauling wood to build a new game for the kids and cleaning the trails.
Wang, Cox, Lincoln and Zurmely helped at Ronald McDonald House. They organized games and cleaned up playroom equipment for the kids.
Habitat for Humanity and Soldier Township Fire Department did similar job activities.
Mr. Gregoire students were responsible for bringing gloves and wearing work clothes for work around the Fire Department. At the end of their time, they got to put on firefighting gear and sit in the fire trucks. Some even held the fire hose.
Final touch-ups, cleaning and other smaller tasks were given to students who are volunteering at Habitat for Humanity to prepare for move-in for the homeowners.