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Community Service Learning Days Branches Out To New Vistas

photo by Cookie Steponaitis

Tuesday October 13, 2009

By Cookie Steponaitis

   It probably looked liked an emergency evacuation or drill to the casual observer or passerby,  but to the hundreds of teens who were in motion early in the mornings of October 6,7 and 8 from Vergennes Union High School they had not only a destination but a mission. Lee Shorey, adult coordinator and senior class assistant Morgan Denton contributed hundreds of hours to create and implement a schedule in which over 400 students are placed in five towns, colleges across the region, and also included coordinating the senior class walk to raise funds for programs and research in Diabetes honoring Taylor Vigne. While four hundred leave the building, over two hundred and fifty settle in classrooms to test on state and national levels, providing their best efforts  to showcase their own talents and their school with the results.

    Currently in its third year, the Community Service Learning Days have grown to incorporate the goals of establishing strong bonds between youth and their community, while providing open doorways for learning about programs and businesses in the area. It also includes visiting eight different colleges that focus students on planning and thinking about their post high school education and offering the classes a chance to develop experiences and community projects that transcend the classroom and school year.

    Thirty businesses and non-profit organizations as well as fifteen worksites are opening their doors and programs to the VUHS teens over the three day period. While students participate in a variety of activities such as raking, painting, shoveling, others will learn about the businesses and offerings in the local area. Each student will not only be giving to the experience but will gain from it as well.

     During the last four years some students and classes are returning to the same site for community service and have developed a special bond with the people and place they visit twice a year. VUHS Teacher Matt DeBlois remarked on this bonding, “For me the biggest benefit is a committed four year relationship. With occasional sites, like the first year we participated in community service, it was a learning process for both the site and the students - one day to the next it was hit or miss. For us to be with the Maritime Museum in the fall and the spring works well because they know what we are capable of and we know what they expect. The relationship also allows us to know the organization and those who work in it well. In a lot of ways it works in the same way as Morning Meeting: we have a mutually beneficial four year relationship where we grow together. The more they learn about us, our school and its purpose the better and it works in for us as well. We, like them, become advocates for their programming, supporters of their mission and really have another ally in the community.”

   VUHS Senior Morgan Denton has a unique perspective of the program. She helped to organize the transportation grid moving all of the classes to their destination sites, and personally contacted many of the host sites to discuss logistics, equipment and projects the students would be undertaking. Asking Morgan to share her own insights on the program showcases that in addition to experiencing community and seeing the role each individual can play in the area, students are not only capable, but hungry for the chance to be leaders. “At the end of the three days there is a sense of elation and accomplishment. Standing with the seniors at Porter Hospital and presenting the funds to the people present makes you stop and think that collectively and individually we all learned. You can not be a part of an experience like this and not come away changed. Whether you are more motivated, more educated or more impassioned, you see that individuals coming together with a collective focus make change.”

    Joining the senior class this year are students from the Champlain Valley Christian School who also believe in the cause of diabetes research and services and both groups are aware that currently there are 23.6 million people in the US with diabetes, which is 8% of the current population. The number of people suffering from this disease around the world is also on the rise. According to World Health Organization the number of diabetics throughout the world was 171 million in the year 2000 with India topping the list at 31 million diabetics and it will become 336 million by 2030. Funds raised by students at both schools will go to benefit local people in Addison County in providing services and research that focus on healthy living, eating right and awareness of the rising health issues around the world. The walk provided all present with a new information as well as a sense of timeliness for action.

    Meanwhile back at VUHS, the seventh grade, eighth grade and juniors exhibited service learning of a more traditional kind. After having a good breakfast the students settled into classrooms around the building and began a three day round robin of testing in reading, writing, and mathematics. They gave each test and question their best effort and many often stayed well beyond the minimum time to carefully complete remaining problems. Junior Dana Entrott remarked, “Education isn’t something that you can just learn and quickly perform. It takes time; time to learn and time to assess. This week was all about seeing what each of us knew and how well she showed our skills.”    

   VUHS teacher Pamela Taylor summed it up best in her reflections on the group of freshmen that came to the Ferrisburgh Fire Department for their worksite. “The place gleamed,” she commented. “I have never seen a group of students work so hard and take so much pride in what they were doing. They wanted to leave the place immaculate and used more than elbow grease to make it happen. They wanted to know about being a firefighter and how to become a part of the community.”

   Lessons learned and handshakes exchanged. Generations coming together to see the age old recipe of community remixed and started yet again, bringing together the leaves of fall, the celebration of the harvest and the love of community.
   

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