Service to community needed and taught
One of the lifelong lessons we are attempting to teach in Brookville Schools is the need to embrace service to the community.
Local, particularly small, communities do not just become great places to live. The quality of life in such hamlets is developed over generations. More times than not, that hometown quality was enriched by those who volunteered their time and efforts to worthy causes. Fire departments, service clubs, youth programs and food banks were all results of someone who recognized a need and then gave of their abilities to make dreams realities.
In our schools those opportunities are bountiful in booster clubs, co-curricular activities and tutoring services. It concerns me that many people have gotten too busy to support such programs. More often than not, I travel past a booster club meeting that has the same three to four people in attendance every month. Parent support groups who may question their existence because of a perceived lack of time. The fact is, we stay busy and involved, but not at the expense of sacrificing our own priorities.
Our schools have become a growing field for what I hope creates a resurgence in community service. Whether it is the elementary ecology club, intermediate school student council or the long list of available clubs at the high school, we work daily at helping students understand the benefit to giving back to the community. Admittedly, this current age of COVID has made this practice much more difficult. However, in a more normal year our Key Club (supported by the local Kiwanis Club), Relay for Life Team, National Honor Society, Student Council and Link Crew are just a minimal sampling of high school groups that give unselfishly of their time to support not just their school but the community at large.
Numerous staff and vested adults help model and lead these students. Over the last eight years our staff at Brookville has supported the Pink Ribbon Girls through generous involvement in our Community Walk. Every year our staff is actively involved in a food drive. Our school nurse, Kathy Dafler coordinates the collection of food and gifts for families in need each Christmas. We are trying to create a foundation that students will replicate throughout their adult life.
It really begins with schoolaged kids understanding that we are a part of a bigger picture. We are connected to a larger community. That a high quality of life doesn’t just happen in our hometowns. We have to get off the sidelines and into the concession stands. We have to commit beyond enjoying the community and be a part of making it warm and inviting. Brookville Schools, along with others, are working to instill this characteristic. Community service, giving back to make our small part of the world a better place to live, is a measured goal in our schools.