On April 1, hundreds of Donegal Junior High School students completed community service projects throughout the Mount Joy area. It was all part of a school-wide effort suggested by a student.
"We had a student come to us and say, 'Why aren't we giving back to our community as a whole school?'" recalled Courtney Bussard, a seventh-grade math teacher. Bussard is also an adviser to the Student Council, so she brought it up to the club. "The Student Council took it over, and we ended up having about 450 kids in seventh and eighth grade who participated in the day."
The Student Council members brainstormed a list of places for students to serve, and then contacted various agencies and organizations to see what help was needed. Students completed community service in 16 locations throughout the school district. "Some of our students stayed on location. Some went to different schools in the district. Some helped clean up local parks," Bussard said. Students volunteered at the local food and clothing banks and cleaned up trash along Main Street in Mount Joy. Others planted flowers or participated in activities with seniors at a retirement community. The projects took place over a two-hour period, but the experience was so well received, the school hopes to organize a whole day of community service next year.
"We surveyed the teachers and the students when they got back from their projects, and the feedback was that they want to do it again," Bussard noted. "We'll be making this an annual thing. Everybody felt they did something good that day, but everyone also felt they didn't have enough time and they'd like to spend the whole day helping."
Bussard said the feedback from the community was very positive as well. "We heard from people in the retirement home, and the seniors really enjoyed having the students there," she said. "We got a lot of great feedback."
She said the day not only benefited the community, but it also had a positive effect on the students as well. "A lot of kids don't reach their full potential in a classroom setting, but really thrive in that outside environment," she explained, noting that future service days will give students the option to choose their projects. "Not every kid likes to mulch, but every kid can help in some way."
Not only does the school plan to repeat and expand the day of service next year, but organizers also hope to inspire others to participate. "We're going to reach out to other districts and share what we did," Bussard stated. "We're going to encourage them and say, 'Maybe this is something you'd want to do with your school.' It would be wonderful to do a county-wide community day in the future."
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