By
Lynn K. Mcmullin
At every grade level, involving students in community service projects makes sense. Not only do students learn empathy, (which adds value in every potential future endeavor), but they learn a little bit about the responsibilities of citizenship in our democratic society. Community service projects are particularly meaningful when students design and carry them out themselves. In those instances, they learn skills such as problem solving and participating in groups, both as leaders and followers.
Our Senior Project course at the high school includes a community service component. In this course, students identify a significant need and design and implement their own community service project to meet this need. The most meaningful projects involve developing new initiatives, rather than supporting one that already exists. The Grade 6 community outreach projects and Grade 8 Odyssey Projects incorporate this same kind of civic responsibility learning.
In addition, many of the clubs and activities Canton offers have community service components to them, thus helping students to understand why people volunteer. As adults we are likely to have experienced many kinds of civic volunteerism and service which have helped us build a sense of belonging in our wider community. And, let’s face it… helping out others makes us feel good about ourselves -- we feel worthy, energized, capable, and connected to others.
There’s no better time to tell you about some of the community-minded projects that our students are fulfilling. I hope you feel as proud as I do of their accomplishments:
Canton Middle School
On November 12, the Middle School sent 94 packages off to Afghanistan and Iraq. This was, by a good margin, more packages than the school had ever sent before. First, the students visited http://www.anysoldier.com/ to find a soldier, who makes a single request on behalf of his or her whole group, (watch “Tango Mike” on this website if you’d like to learn more about the value of this outreach program). The students then spent several weeks collecting and boxing necessities (such as body wash or Chapstick), snacks, and some items just for fun. In the Collinsville PO, Barbara worked 90 minutes off the clock to get the packages out and donated $20 to cover a little postage. The rest of the postage was covered by the Community of Concern, the Student Council, and the PTO. Within days the students got their first correspondence:
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| Students sent packages of snacks and hygiene items to our soldiers overseas through http://www.anysoldier.com/ |
Canton Middle School Students,
On behalf of Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Brigade I would like to sincerely thank you for supporting the "Dukes", as we call ourselves! The fantastic Christmas decorations and cards have all found homes in the hangar where our Soldiers work. Our job here is to provide 24 hour maintenance support to the many AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Blackhawk, CH-47 Chinook and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters throughout Afghanistan. The soldiers work very long hours, both day and night, to ensure the helicopters are ready to fly at a moment's notice.
Everyone stops to read the cards and smiles when they see the decorations. We definitely feel the love and support you have sent! Thank you again for being a part of the Any Soldier program and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Respectfully,
1LT Sarah M. Brisson
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| Middle School students packed a police trailer with donations for the Canton Food Bank. |
This month the Middle School has undertaken a canned food war with the competitive goal of filling a police cruiser which came to the school last Friday and was packed with over 1000 non-perishable food items for the Canton Food Bank.
Cherry Brook Primary School
At Halloween, students collected donations for UNICEF, (which you and I also may remember doing when we were children). After Halloween, CBPS collected and took donations of candy to share with the Food Bank and the troops overseas.
Then, on December 6th, a collection began for new, unwrapped toys for Canton’s Gifts of Love. The following week, they set up their annual “Mitten Tree” display in the hallway by the library. Students have been bringing in children's hats, gloves, and mittens to decorate the tree. On December 17th, the items will be collected and given to the Canton Food Bank, who will help distribute the items to local families.
Canton Intermediate School
Just before Thanksgiving, students and teachers participated in their annual “Jack Bannon Turkey Trot” collecting canned goods to help our neighbors in need. Grades 4, 5, and 6 competed in a spirited rivalry that brought together more than 2,100 lbs. of non-perishable food items.
This month, CIS is busy with a number of projects. Students are putting the final touches on their annual Holiday Gift and Toy Drive of books, toys, cash donations, and gift cards which will be given to Canton neighbors in need. The “Kids Care Club” is making ornaments for the senior citizens and Cherry Brook Health Center. The “Kids Care Club” is a nationally-recognized, student-driven community service group that generates projects and activities to benefit the community and is facilitated through the school’s Quality Council.
Another group, the CIS “Circle of Friends” in collaboration with the Boy Scouts is collecting crayons to send to the “Crayons for Cancer Center” to be melted, recycled into different shapes, and sold. They are asking CIS students to contribute old crayons to this very exciting project. The money they raise will help families stay with their kids while they are getting treatment at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
In one example of the Grade 6 outreach projects mentioned above, a Grade 6 student in Mrs. Perry’s class decided to ‘reach out’ globally. In order to bring supplies and food along with her and her family on a mission to the Dominican Republic, she and other students held car washes, raked leaves, and collected $107 towards her project.
One of CIS’s major service initiatives took place on Thursday, December 16, when the “CIS Flying V's" met the "Cherry Brook Spikers" on the CIS volleyball court for the third annual staff match. All proceeds from the game, attended by families from both schools, will be donated to the Kilimanjaro Education Foundation, which is an excellent example of a school community making a long-term commitment to help others. Proceeds from many previous fundraisers funded the building of a classroom in Tanzania; proceeds from this year's volleyball match will be targeted specifically to purchase lesson plan books. If you’d like to read more about the Kilimanjaro Foundation click here http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/kef/47544/.
Canton High School
The student members of the high school’s ‘Substance Free Students’ found the idea for a very different kind of service project on the Nike website at http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/. In an effort to promote “green” thinking, they are collecting 200 pairs of used sneakers which will be recycled into indoor tracks, basketball courts, and gym floors. Approximately 30 students are involved in this project which required publicity, (including writing promotional articles for the newspapers), collecting and counting the sneakers, and finally, transporting the very large collection to the Nike store at West Farms.
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| CATA (Canton Adolescents Taking Action) meets regularly to plan community service and civic-minded projects. |
Students involved in CATA, “Canton Adolescents Taking Action,” recently baked Thanksgiving cookies for the Canton Food Bank and delivered in them in time for the holiday. Now, and through the beginning of January, CATA is holding a winter clothing drive for people in need.
Another civically-minded group, the FCCLA Club (Family, Career, & Community Leaders of America) spent an afternoon putting together cookie-making kits for the Canton Food Bank -- the kind that you see beautifully layered in decorative jars. These “cookie jars” are available to families at the Canton Food Bank (which despite the efforts of the schools and other local civic groups will continue to need support throughout the year.)
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| CATA cookies were packaged with this message: "Happy Thanksgiving from CATA!...Baked with love at Canton High School just for you!" |
Hopefully, by learning empathy and experiencing the positive rewards of helping others, our students will become more responsible, less self-centered citizens.
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| Student members of the FCCLA Club made cookie mixes for the Canton Food Bank. |
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