West San Jose Resident

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Easterbrook middle school students receive community service lesson

By Tiffany Carney

When Notre Dame High School senior Casey Legere wanted to share her love of community service through her senior project, building a legacy never even crossed her mind.

Easterbrook Discovery School's middle school students participated in an inaugural community service day on Dec. 5 to kick off a community service program, but EDS can't take all the credit. The program was actually the brainchild of Casey, who outlined the program as part of her senior service learning project, entitled "A Need to Serve."

"I thought it would be a really good idea to start a program like we have at my school," said Casey, who regularly participates in community service activities.

Casey's mother, Stacey Legere, is the librarian for EDS. Casey thought her program would fit perfectly at the school and scheduled a meeting with principal Sherri Vasquez.

The school already has a program in place for the elementary school, but the two brainstormed about a middle school program. They also wanted to include on- and off-campus volunteer opportunities.

Casey started working on her project last year and has created a program tailor-made for the middle school students.

To kick off the program, the students rotated through five 20-minute workshops led by teachers of grades 4 and up.

"The purpose was to introduce the kids to the idea of community service," said Vicki Sauer, facilitator of the new program.

In the first workshop students were introduced to community service and what that might look like on and off campus through a PowerPoint presentation. They were also told about the community service requirement, which ranges from six to 30 hours depending on grade level.

The next workshop was designed to assist students in assessing a need in the community that matched their interests.

The students then watched a video presentation about teenagers making a difference, Sauer said.

The students were then able to put their knowledge into action as they made scarves by cutting polar-fleece material then tying the ends in knots. The scarves will be donated through Sacred Heart Community Services.

Stephanie Washburn, 14, said the scarf-making was important, "because someone out there might not have a jacket or a blanket."

Stephanie enjoyed making the scarves because she felt she was making a difference.

"It makes me feel good," she said.

In the final workshop, the students accessed the Hands-On Bay Area website in the computer lab. The website gave students a chance to explore current volunteer opportunities and projects in their area that would be suitable for their age bracket.

"There are many ways to help the community," said Nariman Moussavi, 12, after he completed the five workshops. Moussavi said he now understands the importance the community projects.

"I would like them to find an aspect of community service that they genuinely enjoy so that they might continue that passion," Casey said.

Casey's only hope is that the students will continue to participate in community service projects even after they meet the school's requirement.

"They are very eager to get started," Sauer said, "and that is a wonderful thing."