WILSON — Earlier this month, students at Wilson High School were able to get out of class for the day in the name of community service.
The school’s first-ever Day of Service, organized by the high school’s Shared Decision Team, was held on March 11.
Throughout the school day, students participated in a series of stations and activities in multiple classrooms that each provided something for the benefit of the local community.
“The overview for the Day of Service is the idea that small acts of kindness really have a lasting impact on others,” high school principal Paul Galgovich said.
Each student was able to pick from three of 18 stations where they had the opportunity to work on different projects and also connect with local groups, businesses and organizations.
“Our inspiration for the day, ‘Little Things Turn into Big Things,’ came from Col. Gail Halvorsen, known as ‘The Candy Bomber,’ who lifted the spirits of children by dropping candy from airplanes during the Berlin Airlift in World War II. His father used to tell him ‘From little things come big things’, which inspired him, and in turn us,” Galgovich said.
Prior to the activities, motivational speaker Duncan Kirkwood spoke to students about topics such as perseverance and resilience.
“My biggest takeaway from today was how simple and easy it was and how many opportunities there are to help out in the community and be a part of it that we didn’t realize before,” senior Emily Phillips said.
The various activities included repurposing T-shirts as grocery bags to be sent to FeedMore WNY, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Salvation Army and Friends of Night People Food Pantry, decorating signs with kind messages for classrooms and putting together craft kits for the Wilson Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt amongst others.
In total, 79 T-shirt bags, 969 PB&J sandwiches, 15 signs and 248 craft kits were made.
Junior Donna Clark took the initiative on her own community service project by leading a station where she and students made paracord lanyards for Operation Gratitude, an organization that delivers care packages to deployed troops, military children, recruit graduates, veterans, and first responders.
This project hits close to home for Clark as her father, sister and brother-in-law have all served in the military. She plans to enlist in the Air Force after she graduates.
In total, 290 paracords were made with the help of classmates and staff.
“For my project I wanted to do something that would benefit veterans and those in active service. You can use them for many different things,” Clark said.
Several students expressed enjoyment and appreciated the opportunity to engage in community service.
“It was very good to do these activities and it helps influence us to do more community work,” freshman Liam Josker said.