During the week of Earth Day (April 22), Highroad students and staff took part in Service Day activities to serve our community.  The elementary activities take part of one day, while the secondary students dedicate an entire day of school to this event.  It starts with the Kindies, who gathered items together to deliver to the Crisis Pregnancy Centre for moms and babies in need.  The grade 1A class baked cookies and made cards for our fire and police force, and when they delivered them, they were thrilled to get tours by some emergency personnel.  At one point, one of the officers joked about locking Miss Evans up in a cell, but unfortunately, the class did not see the humour in having their teacher taken away.  The cookies and thank-you cards were a big hit though.  The rest of the grade 1s had a good visit with seniors at The Waverly.

            A number of our elementary classes participated in the City of Chilliwack’s Pitch In Program, cleaning up the streets around the school.  Despite the day being cold and rainy, they soldiered on; though Mrs. McLachlan did overhear two of her students exclaiming how much they needed a warm bath and a cup of hot chocolate as they trudged back to school in the downpour.  The grade 3s and 4s cleaned up a park out on Chilliwack Lake Road, and Dayna Lade in grade 3 commented, “I was surprised at how fun it was - even in the rain!”  Minter Gardens generously donated free passes for our grade 4/5 class to take seniors for a free visit to the Gardens.  Thanks again to Minter Gardens for so kindly allowing our group to come!  The grade 5 class premiered their upcoming musical (here May 25) to residents at Bradley Home and received rave reviews.

            In the high school, the 7 and 8 classes worked with the City of Chilliwack and the Department of Forestry on clean up projects and tree planting.  The grade 7 class was able to plant 540 trees in about three hours!  The grade 9 classes worked both here at the school on improvement projects, and with our BIA to clean-up the downtown area.   The grade 10 classes headed out to a farm and did their own version of an extreme makeover on a home occupied by migrant workers.  The farm workers were thrilled to come home to a house which had been thoroughly cleaned, a yard and gardens which now had curb appeal, and a freezer stocked with home made meals.  Grade 10 student Janelle Manzey said, “it was a good experience to help people less fortunate, and we had a great time doing it”. Watching students interact and build relationships is a highlight of the day for teachers. Chilliwack Community Services invited our grade 11s back to work with them this year, and had saved up a bunch of projects for them.  Craig Zylstra, who was on window washing and toy cleaning duty, said he felt “proud to have accomplished all that work for the kids”.  The grade 12 students were put to work by the Salvation Army, making lunch at the Soup Kitchen and doing various clean up projects.  We also had students prepare and serve 300 free hot dogs to students at McCammon Elementary with the Salvation Army.

            Service Day allows us to see areas where our students shine outside of the classroom, and gives our students a chance to see how easy it is to put others first and make a positive impact on the world around them.  The feedback has been great.  As one person noted, “your students are helpful, energetic, polite, and fun”; we agree!  There are great stories every year, and we are already praying for sun for our 2011 events.

written by Julie Lade

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