PNH Staff, Students Participate in North’s Day of Service
“My favorite part was knowing that my little contribution could help out the community. Giving everyone the opportunity to help others was a great idea,” said junior Brianna Barrera after participating in Parkway North’s first Day of Service on April 13. In addition to Special Olympics held at North, students had the opportunity to go to different service locations to volunteer.
Schools across Missouri came to participate in this year’s Special Olympics and engage in different activities such as a ball throw and races. Numerous booths for extracurricular activities such as DECA & FBLA, baseball, golf, and Medical Club were also set up with small games for everyone to enjoy. For the first time, other places were introduced to students as options of where to volunteer for the Day of Service.
“I went to the Saint Patrick’s center to help sort donations and other kids made food boxes that families got to take home. I chose it because St. Louis has [a lot] of homeless people and the numbers are growing, too. That means shelters like this need more help so that they can run service smoothly and provide for those in need,” said Barrera.
The Day of Service not only provided help for schools, food pantries, and charities, it provided insight to students on what they can do to help the community, and also a look into what others may experience on a daily basis. Working at the local charity organization allowed students to see what services their own community provides to the public.
“I chose Goodwill because I thought it would be interesting to see what it’s like to help out there since we all live pretty close to it,” said junior Lukas Hollensbe. “My job was to stock clothes and put price tags on some items. I was hoping we’d be able to do more, but I’m just glad I was able to meet some nice people, and knowing that I’m working to help out my very own community was good. Sometimes someone would ask me questions as if I was an employee and it was funny when I was trying to explain to them that I couldn’t answer their question,” said Hollesbe.
This year, North is focusing on community building activities and being proactive to help help others in the community.
“I think it was such a good thing to do. Having everyone basically take the day off in order to help others was a great idea and it’s nice to have the option to pick where you’d like to help. Maybe we could add the Humane Society as somewhere to volunteer at in the future,” said Barrera.
Whether it was encouraging Special Olympics athletes or helping out at a garlic farm, all help was appreciated and will be something to look forward to next year.
by Sagar Samuel, personality profiler