Highland Elementary School faculty and staff believe that their students “need to know.” And what they need to know extends beyond the classroom core content instruction and assessments. They also realize it must incorporate community volunteers who are involved in service to the community while being headed by a staff dedicated to promoting service to the community.
Each grade level at HES has an annual predetermined service learning project that is a community-based nonprofit collective. HES’ guidance counselor Laura McCain knows the importance of these projects because she spearheads them within the school and works with the nonprofit liaisons to create these experiences for the grade-level projects.
The kindergarten classes learn about the Help Office of Owensboro and what needs they have as well as who they serve within the community. Kindergarteners held in a pasta drive for two weeks in October where they were asked to bring in pantry items, specifically pasta, to stock the shelves of the Help Office pantry.
First-grade students focus on the Daviess County Animal Shelter. An animal shelter volunteer brings animals to HES, teaching the students what the shelter does, what is involved in the care of the animals living at the shelter and the idea of fostering pets. The students then hold a drive for supplies and treats, meeting after school to deliver the items to the shelter.
The second-grade students spend time discussing what it means to be homeless. Most students describe a homeless person as someone without shoes, with dirty clothes, and possibly seen on a street corner with a sign asking for money, according to McCain.
Leigha Taylor, Executive Director and CEO of the Boulware Mission visits the second graders and discusses the circumstances that might lead to homelessness, bringing awareness to the students.
McCain says the idea of homelessness becomes real to the second-grade students as they load busses and visit to the Boulware Center during school hours. Prior to the visit, students collect personal hygiene items, along with any requested items from the center, and deliver them during their visit.
At the shelter, students realize some of their misconceptions about what it means to be homeless, McCain said. They see people who look just like their teachers and parents. They have on nice clothes and shoes and they blend into society. Students are often surprised by this, according to McCain.
This foundation, from kindergarten to second grade, is what led McCain to want to partner with Wendell Foster and their respect campaign for the third-grade students this year. She wanted students to use their time and talents, combined with the message of respect and its many interpretations, to foster an appreciation of special abilities, not disabilities.
This is one of the messages John Gleason and Lesley Blake promote while presenting the “Respect Starts Now” message to students. After the presentation students created visual representations of Respect and presented them to the Wendell Foster campus in the form of a mural.
Students also toured the facility and learned what services are provided at Wendell Foster and the outreach the campus is able to provide to the community.
Tucker Whitehead, one of the third graders involved in the Respect project, was aware of the campus because he had previously visited. He knew about the sensory park and a few of the other features of the campus, but he was also uncertain what to expect from the residents.
And this unknown is why this relationship is important to McCain. In fact, after visiting the campus herself and being impressed with its offerings, she asked for a faculty meeting to be held there, just so her peers could learn more.
Since this was the first year for this collaboration with Wendell Foster, McCain doesn’t know where it will go, but the students’ excitement about creating art for Wendell Foster as a form of service was inspiring to Gleason and Blake.
Fourth-grade students participate in the New Life Food Pantry collection. New Life Pastor Todd Camp collaborates with Highland to teach the students about the needs of the pantry. McCain said that one night during the winter, the students serve a meal to the families of New Life Outreach.
“They meet and greet the people that come and do a craft with the kids that are there,” McCain said.
The fifth grade takes on more of a school-wide project, but it begins with the grade level. With a focus on veterans and the armed services, students work with Leslie McCarty from the Daviess County Public Library and Cathy Mullins to develop a plan to collect items for soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell that are deployed or in training.
Mullins and McCarty then have these items delivered to the base.
“Our 5th graders turn this into a big school-wide competition where the class with the most items is the winning class,” McCain said.
The idea of service — and respect for those served — is a fundamental lesson being taught to Highland students.
“I liked going to New Life Community and helping serve the food. We did crafts with the kids and maybe this helped them enjoy the evening,” said fifth-grader Callie Smith. “The Highland service projects are teaching kids that there are others that don’t have what we have. We can go to places in our area to donate or even volunteer to help out. When I grow up I will know about these places and be able to serve.”
Smith has even been asking her mom if they could visit the animal shelter to walk some dogs, confirming that service-based learning is a lesson well received by the Highland students.
