On Friday, April 29th, OLHMS students participated in a school-wide Service Day, which contained a variety of activities for every grade level. For our 6th grade students, the first activity they completed was writing letters to 8th grade students. In their letters, 6th grade students introduced themselves, congratulated the 8th grade students on their upcoming graduation, and conducted research to gather motivational quotes and/or well wishes. To help students write their letter, they watched an informational video on how to write a proper letter and organized their thoughts. In addition to writing letters to 8th grade students, 6th grade students learned about philanthropy and had several options to choose from to show their philanthropy. Whether students created paper flowers for the nursing home, book markers for our OLHMS library, “Cans of Hope” for the Ronald McDonald House, planters, pints for Cosley Zoo, littered our 8th grade hallway with kindness, or tied blankets, scholars had an opportunity to give back and help others.
Our 7th grade students had the opportunity to visit our D123 feeder schools or went to the local park. At our feeder schools, 7th grade students provided various services, like reading aloud to the elementary students, playing a game with 5th grade students, and cleaning outside the school and/or park. Some of the 7th grade advisories that went to the Pollination Garden or Oak Meadow Park and broke up into small groups, where they had specific jobs to pick up garbage, wipe down equipment, create happy chalk displays on the sidewalk, erase any scuff marks on the play equipment, spread mulch at the Bryan Barrett Memorial garden, and/or weeded around the Tree Nursery. When students got back into the classroom, they learned about kindness, joy, and acts of being kind.
Lastly, our 8th grade students had the opportunity to visit different locations for their Service Day. Some advisories went to the Feed My Starving Children facility where they packed food that was shipped all over the world for starving children; the Cook County Forest Preserves where they learned about the environment and picked up litter; the Oak Lawn Public Library; or the Little Red School House. In every location scholars attended, they learned the importance of giving back and helping others.
All grade levels participated and reflected on the day by answering questions, watching a video, and thought of different service opportunities that could be implemented in the future. In all, students loved and appreciated our OLHMS Service Day, and they are ecstatic to implement their service ideas for next year!
