Rewarding the grade achieving the most community service hours this year, seventh grade Indian Valley middle school students participated in Impact Day on May 15.
Student enjoyed outdoor games and a picnic.
According to Indian Valley English teacher Emily Morris, community service is a great way to show students their influence in the community.
“I believe that it shows that [the students] have an impact on their community, and that even a few volunteer hours can make a change,” Morris said.
For seventh grader Veronica Prawecky, volunteering is a good way to help out around your area.
“I think that Impact Day has taught me that volunteering is good, and while it’s fun to do it for a reward, you should volunteer without a reward too,” Prawecky said.
Additionally, Morris said that the lesson they learn from Impact Day ties in with the seventh grade English curriculum.
“The skills they are learning from their community service connects to our seventh grade ELA curriculum. Our unit is a change agent, so that kind of shows kids how they can make a change doing small things,” Morris said.
For Morris, the overall message kids learn is teamwork.
“The overall lesson many kids learn is teamwork, because they have to work with a bunch of different kids that they might not have classes with,” Morris said, “and they’re able to interact and learn how to work as a team.”
According to seventh grader Arabella Costa, volunteering is a fun way to get out into your town.
“I help out my grandparents for volunteer hours but many people go to shelters, too,” Costa said. “I think volunteering has become a great way for me to help people in my community, and I like the reward that comes with it too.”
For Indian Valley science teacher Stephen Nogami, Impact Day provides important lessons for many of the middle school students.
“I think Impact Day teaches them that they should not think of themselves, but to think of others,” Nogami said.
According to seventh grader Gabby Lane, there are a lot of activities to do on Impact Day.
“We rotate stations and do things like GaGa ball, volleyball and obstacle courses,” Lane said. “There is a picnic, too, and we get to hang out with our whole grade doing a variety of fun activities while enjoying some food.”
For Lane, this year’s Impact Day differs from last year’s.
“Last year we played wiffle ball instead of the relays, and my grade also won the community hours so we got to do the slip-and-slide, which we did not get to do this year,” Lane said.
For Impact Day participant Kayce Maylie, she has done a variety of things for her community.
“I pick up trash a lot, but I also went to a homeless shelter, which was very interesting,” Maylie said.
Additionally, Impact Day has become something that many middle schoolers look forward to every year.
According to Costa, Impact Day is a good way to acknowledge that the school year is coming to an end..
“Impact Day is something a lot of people look forward to, because it signifies the end of the year,” Costa said.