150 TVHS Freshmen Participate in Community Service
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
If they didn’t know or understand what “community service” was before, 150 Tippecanoe Valley High School freshmen found out Thursday morning.
The students took part in Valley’s fourth annual Day of Service.
During the community service day, TVHS and Freshman Academy teacher Alissa Trippiedi said students “go out in the community and volunteer. Some kids don’t even know what community service is.”
The Freshman Academy at TVHS helps students transition from the middle school to high school. It helps them build character and leadership skills. The Careers Class is part of the academy and helps students plan for the future at the high school and beyond.
Trippiedi said students volunteered at non-profits and schools in Warsaw, Mentone, Akron and Winona Lake.
“We try to get the community involved, too,” she said.
One of the new locations for the Day of Service this year was the Akron Church of God.
“They needed help, so we got students out there. The town of Mentone also needed help in the cemetery. That was new this year. Most of the community knows we do this now, so that’s nice,” she continued.
After volunteering, Trippiedi said some students will go back to the places they did community service and donate their time on their own.
“Some people don’t realize what they get out of it,” she said.
Besides the church, other locations Valley students volunteered for two to three hours Thursday included Miller’s Merry Manor, Combined Community Services, Winona Lake parks, Warsaw parks, Our Father’s House, Animal Welfare League, Grace Village, Mentone and Akron elementary schools, Potawatomi Wildlife Park, the town of Mentone, Camp Mollenhour and Yellow Creek Camp.
At CCS, students separated clothing, assembled food orders or cleaned up the yard. Students assisting at the AWL took out the trash, swept or provided human contact to the animals. In Winona Lake, students cleaned windows in the town hall, correlated papers or pulled weeds in the park.
Cassidy Cave was one of the students at the AWL. She said volunteering is important “to help people out and make their day a little brighter.”
Brynda Krueger went on a missions trip to Alabama over the summer to volunteer, so working at the AWL wasn’t her first experience with community service.
“I think it’s fun and I like to see people’s faces when we help them and how happy they are,” she said of why she volunteers.
“I just love helping people,” Jeremy Himes said as a kitten crawled all over his shoulders. “Animals too. I love animals. Animals and kids are naturally drawn to me.”
Each group of students were chaperoned by a teacher.
“It’s a great opportunity for all the kids to go out and understand what community service is all about,” Trippiedi said.
When students returned to the school, they wrote English papers about their experience.
