Student at East Greene elementary and Greene County Intermediate School in Grand Junction made their communities their classrooms Friday morning as they learned the satisfaction of volunteer service.
Students all year have talked about being safe, respectful and responsible as being the “keys to success.” The school-wide service project was to show students that responsible citizens make positive contributions to their communities.
Students cleaned up litter and debris at the city park, Mount Calvary Cemetery, and the softball and football field in Grand Junction, and at the Greene County Community Center and some of the city parks in Jefferson.
Intermediate School teachers motivate students to pick up sticks in the Grand Junction park by proposing a contest to see which group could create the largest pile of sticks. One of the winning groups included (from left) Anthony Tolsdorf, Kadrick Kinne, Zach Murphy, Daniel Gehling, Garrett Sperling, Trent Custer, Caden Etherton and Daniel Gehling.
Fifth graders Paige Egeland and Sebastian Ohrt cleaned up litter along the fence at the football field. Paige said they found a lot of cans, and that it’s important to help out “so the world and the ground doesn’t become a big garbage can.”
Mrs Fish’s third and fourth graders spent most of the day outside the classroom. They spent the morning practicing math skills like measuring and using what they had learned in science about plants as they helped Jan Scharingson plant four raised bed gardens near the rain garden east of the school. “This isn’t work; this is fun,” one third grader said.
In the afternoon, the students went back outside to pick up litter from the school playground.
