Teaching students community service

By Editor | August 14, 2019 |

When Joe Schaal approached Vandalia’s superintendent of schools about his desire to get students involved in projects to approve the appearance of district schools, he learned that he wasn’t the only one with that idea.

He found out that Jason Clay was trying to organize the same kind of thing.
“It was something I came up with as those of us who are new to the (school) board talked about some possible ways of getting everybody rallied around the schools, have a little bit more school pride,” Schaal said.
“At the same time, doing something to let the kids take more ownership in their schools,” he said.
“I went to Dr. Garrison, and she told me that the football team has been wanting to do something like that for a while,” Schaal said.
So, Schaal connected with Clay, and they quickly organized a four-hour work day on Saturday, with about 40 students and about 10 parents participating.
“We’re just trying to get service projects,” Clay said. “My idea is to get all athletes involved; we just started with the football team.”
During the four-hour period, football players painted the seats of the high school football bleachers, high school cheerleaders painted the bathrooms at the football field, and parents painted and put new shingles on the ticket booth.
Participants also improved the landscaping at the high school, junior high and elementary school by getting rid of weeds and putting down mulch.
They also moved hurdles into storage and got out equipment used by the football team.
While he came up with the idea of taking on such projects prior “long before” he was elected to the school board earlier this year, his seat on the board did improve his access to district personnel and gave him a better idea of what kind of work can be done.
“It’s just little, noticeable things, things I would notice when I dropped my kids off at school,” he said.
“The conversations I had with a lot of my friends before this was that they thought it was a great idea, and that if he would lead something like this, they would help.
Schaal used Facebook to recruit volunteers and some of his volunteers, the cheerleaders, came through that post. Parents of football players also learned about the work day through their sons on this year’s squad.
While the number of workers was limited due to conflicts that day, such as the start of the VYO football season, Schaal is pleased with the first session.
“I think it was a good start, something we can build off of,” Schaal said.
Some of those who heard about his plan had the thought that some of the things planned was work to be done by district staff.
“They’ve got certain stuff that they have to get done, especially before the start of school, like getting the gym floor waxed and the buildings ready for teachers and students,” Schaal said.
“My thought is, what does it hurt?” he said. “Why can’t we just give back.
“My kids were there and they loved it,” he said.
“Our goal for next year is to split up work into three days, one in June, July and August, be more focused on what we can do.
“We just wanted this year to get something done before the start of the school year,” Schaal said.
Clay said his idea to get student athletes involved in projects that benefit the school and the community.
“We just started with the football team,” said Clay, who also serves as the high school wrestling coach and athletic director.
“We’d like to get all athletes at the school involved, have a work day or two in the summer to try to make a little investment in our school and our community, and teach them about (community) service a little bit,” he said.
“If they make that investment,” Clay said, “I think they’ll take more pride in their school, and if kids are tearing up stuff, they will get on them.
“There’s only so much time during the school day and we feel like athletics is a great opportunity to impact people, teach them things,” he said.
“They’re committed to what we do in athletics, and we ask a lot of them,” Clay said. “This is just another component of it all, just trying to help them become more well-rounded so they’re ready to go out in the world and be successful.
“It’s just the idea of getting kids into the mentality of helping people.
“There are a lot of people who give a lot for them to be able to have their athletics and their schools, so they need to give back, just learn to give,” Clay said.
Both Schaal and Clay said they would like to see work days include projects off away from the school campuses.
Schaal said that he has reached out to the city for possible projects for the students.
“I want my team to be involved in community service, to have them let me know if you need our help,” he said.
Clay said they’ve already gotten a start in that direction.
“I would definitely like to get out in the community,” he said.
“We’ve already done a few things,” Clay said. “We are able to help out with the Tools for School at the Presbyterian Church, with summer lunches a little bit.
“We just started at the school, but we’d like to get out in the community eventually, if there’s work needed at the cemetery or some things needed at the lake, we’d like to be able to do that moving forward.”

Member of this year’s football squad at Vandalia Community High School paint the bleacher seats at Mark Greer Field during a work day on Saturday.

Cheerleaders at Vandalia Community High School painted the bathrooms at Mark Greer Field on Saturday.

Parents who turned out for Saturday’s work day put a new coat of paint and shingles donated by Pine Ridge Homes on the ticket booth at Mark Greer Field.