The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Students going to Virginia for service project
About 40 students from a dozen Lake and Geauga high schools are stepping out of their comfort zonese.
About 40 students from a dozen Lake and Geauga high schools are stepping out of their comfort zonese.
The students accompanied with chaperones will be heading to Jonesville, Virginia, on Jan. 1 for the Appalachia Service Project.
The goal of the five-day trip is for students to apply critical thinking skills and develop a better understanding of how to overcome challenges and obstacles and engage in service that will aid in their development of social justice and civic responsibility. They will also seek to create/implement a service project in their local community, improve their interpersonal and interpersonal competence and develop collaboration skills and competence.
Wickliffe Superintendent Joseph Spiccia and Director of Strategic Innovation Julie Ramos spearheaded this project and facilitated several leadership development and planning meetings as part of an initiative called SALES, which stands for Service and Leadership Engagement for Students.
The mission of SALES is to provide an educational experience for high school students that allows them to explore local issues that impact them and their community, as well as how these issues fit into the larger context of the state of Ohio, said Ramos.
“The work we’ve done thus far has been really enjoyable and the students are really working hard,” Spiccia said. “What’s fun for me, is to watch how easy it is for kids to get along very quickly. So, we bring together about 40 kids who don’t know each other and within an hour they are just communicating and sharing. It’s something adults don’t do unfortunately.”
He said it is a great way to teach students how to collaborate and work in groups with people they do not know.
Aside from traveling to Virginia, the students were divided into groups of five to develop and implement a service-learning project in their community and gain knowledge of community agencies available to assist local families that may be in need of donations or volunteers.
There are seven students from Harvey High School in Painesville who are participating. Six of the seven students, plus one student from Perry High School, are doing a local service project in connection with the Lake County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services Board.
Nell Rapport, who is the business teacher at Harvey, said the students made purple beaded bracelets to raise money and awareness about the heroin and opiate crisis in Lake County.
“I’m so proud of these students,” she said. “I’ve seen so much leadership in them. They are volunteering to go to Virginia in the middle of winter, just to help others.”
Harvey High senior Zachery Wilson said he was looking for volunteer opportunities and the Appalachia Service Project seemed liked a great way to get involved.
His classmates Re’Allatee Gambrell and Dart Becks said they are a little nervous about stepping out of their comfort zones, but excited about the chance to help others and build new relationships.
Lubrizol Corp. is sponsoring the Harvey students’ trip.
The Appalachia Service Project brings thousands of volunteers from around the country to rural Central Appalachia to repair homes for low-income families with a goal to eradicate substandard housing and transform lives.
The volunteers do light construction and renovations.
“I’ve seen so much leadership in them. They are volunteering to go to Virginia in the middle of winter, just to help others.” — Nell Rapport, business teacher at Harvey