‘Service Above Self’ fair shows students’ good works
They helped animals and the homeless, styled hair to boost children’s self-esteem, and taught classmates about sexual violence. Columbus students spent a lot of hours this school year thinking about others’ needs and meeting them.
On Monday, the Columbus Rotary recognized the students for that service work in a bustling event at the Valley Dale Ballroom that was set up a lot like a science fair — minus the baking soda volcanoes.
At the 14th annual “Service Above Self” project fair, teams representing all 21 high schools in the Columbus City Schools, plus teams from three Columbus middle schools, showed off the projects that they dreamed up, researched and carried out. About 1,000 Columbus students completed around 10,000 hours of work through the projects this school year.
Many teams took inspiration from their own experiences. Eighth-graders from Champion Middle School on the Near East Side set out to curb violence. The students signed peace pledges, and scrawled on paper butterflies the names of people they had lost to violence.
They were motivated in part by the death of 13-yearold Tyre King, who was fatally shot in September during a police chase after he pulled a BB gun that looked like a real gun.
“Even though he didn’t go to school with us, he was close to a lot of us,” said 14-year-old Aadejah Stevenson.
Khaleed Hudson, 13, explained how they invited police officers to speak to students, to help build trust. Representatives from Marlan J. Gary’s Chapel of Peace funeral home also came for an assembly and showed the students a child-size body bag.
“It pains them to bury underage children,” Hudson said.
A team from Mifflin High School tried to help their classmates to get to know each other, calling the project YOUnitedME. In a diverse school of more than 800 students, more than a third have limited English language skills, and they have a tough time being included, said 17-year-old Rojika Sharma.
Sharma, along with 15-year-olds Aliya Omar and Ahliyah Keathley, interviewed students about where they come from and what they have experienced, and then shared those stories with the school.
Omar was often asked about her hijab, a Muslim head covering. “‘Do you have hair under there? Why do you wear that?’... I just wanted them to understand,” she said.
The effort is making a difference, Sharma said. “It’s like walking down the hall, when I see someone, I now know what they’ve been through,” she said. “I feel connected.”
Some Independence High School students decried the lack of safe sidewalks along Refugee Road for students who walk, so they contacted the Columbus City Council about getting some installed. They surveyed classmates, and got the backing of the Greater South East Area Commission.
When the teens were called to the stage, 11th-grader Nasiara Jones got a laugh from the crowd by repeatedly giving the number for Columbus’ service hotline: “If you’ve got a pen, I want you to write it down so you guys can all call the number, so that we can move higher up on the priority list and get the sidewalks as soon as possible,” Jones said.
At Columbus Alternative High School, Kathleen Cannell and Asia Atuah, both 17, aim to get classmates talking about intimate partner violence, childhood abuse and human trafficking. Their club, CAHS Against Sexual Violence, lined up a guest speaker for Thursday to educate the entire senior class about sexual assault on college campuses.
At a luncheon after the fair, 12 high-school seniors were awarded college scholarships, based on their service projects and interviews with members of the Rotary.