The mission of the Holyoke R3-1J School District is to “graduate every student prepared with the necessary knowledge, skills and character to find success in life.” The staff of the school district recognize that to accomplish this mission more needs to be taught to the students than just basic reading, writing and arithmetic. This semester, in a continued effort to expand educational opportunities outside of the traditional classroom, the junior high students are taking a different kind of final exam. They are giving service.
To that end on the last day and a half of school before school lets out for the break, 7th and 8th grade students spent time in their seminar classes this semester participating in service learning with the culmination of those projects scheduled for finals. Projects included, making cards and bookmarks, serving hot cocoa to the elementary school, a canned food drive, making ornaments, spending time at the nursing home, and many more.
Hot Cocoa Break at the Elementary School - K-6 students and staff were invited to come down to the multipurpose room to grab a cup of cocoa prepared for them by the junior high students. Elementary students always enjoy a special treat.
Make a card and give to someone you have never thought to thank before! - Your mail carrier delivers tons of cards. How many does she receive? There are many others who we tend to overlook like first responders, soldiers, the teller at the bank, teachers, parents, cousins, neighbors. Who could you say thank you to that you have never thought of before?
Make a bookmark for an elementary student! - Reading at a young age helps brain development. Positive encouragement also helps. Pair them together and you have a winning formula for students who will love reading because the older students told them reading is important.
Social Media Presentation - Every year students in the school district participate in digital citizenship. It is one thing for your teacher to tell you about the dangers of social media but when you hear it from your peers that is completely different. The junior high students took time to explain to the 5th and 6th grade students why it is important to think before you post and how once you post you really cannot get it back.
Nursing Home Visit - Students baked and decorated cookies in the FACS room last week and then went and delivered their cookies along with coffee or cocoa to the residents of the nursing home. After going room to room the students and residents gathered together to visit and get to know each other better.
Canned Food Drive - For the last few weeks junior high students have been encouraging all 7-12 students to bring canned food to their seminar classes. The winning seminar class will be awarded house points and the satisfaction of knowing they helped out those in need. In total 580 items will be donated to the local Methodist and Lutheran Food Banks.
Ornaments - The students were given a section of a tree branch to decorate as an ornament for a Christmas tree. They could then take it home and place it on their own tree or share it with someone else.
Toy Drive - New or slightly used toys were donated and packaged by the students. They spent time wrapping and will deliver them to local charitable organizations.
Spirit Bags - The students assembled gift bags with green and gold pom-pom, sports stickers and snap bracelets to be delivered to elementary students at a later date. The goal is to give them something to cheer with when they come to games and get them excited to be a Holyoke Dragon!
This new approach to the finals time for junior high students was made possible by the combined efforts of the 7th and 8th grade seminar teachers Mrs. Weibers, Mrs. Goldenstein, Mrs. Sprague Mrs. Nelson, and Mrs. Hines; the administration, Mrs. Powell, Mr. Distefano, Ms Kreider, Mrs. Clayton; and the other junior high teachers who stepped in to help out during finals, Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Jablonski, Mrs, Dalton, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Kleve, Mrs. French, Mrs. Ortner, Ms. Varela, and Mr. Colby Stumpf.
Funding for these projects was made possible in part by funding from the Youth Connections Grant the school district received from the Colorado Education Initiative.
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