What is service learning? Today Mosaic students had the opportunity to go out into the Sheboygan community as they learned valuable skills throughout a day filled with providing service to different organizations. Each grade level went to a different location and fulfilled needs that we identified within the community outside of our school. Our sixth graders had the opportunity to go to the Sheboygan River area surrounding the UW Sheboygan and pull weeds as they learned a little about invasive species. Seventh grade students went to Nourish, a non profit organization in Sheboygan County, and helped harvest within the nourish garden as well as learn about the services of the Nourish organization. Eighth grade students headed over to the Habitat Restore building to provide extra hands in organization, taking care of the lot, and helping stock donated items.
What did our students learn throughout their day long service adventure? Here are some of their take aways:
“We realized that organizing and running a non-profit organization (Habitat Restore) is hard work, and the people who do it don’t expect appreciation or rewards, they just do it to help people. This is something we want to remember and try to live up to within our community”
“We want to promote Habitat Restore, so more people in the community know that by purchasing things there, they are donating money to build houses for people in need. We think more people should know about this and other non profit organizations!”
“We learned that even though volunteering is hard, it can also be fun! Also, teamwork makes tasks go a lot faster!”
“We were excited that the things we were doing would help other people in the community, and even though we might not get to see how we are appreciated, we know that people will appreciate the work that we did”
“Harvesting is important because we can provide food to the poor. It is also important not to waste food, and to try to give more to people in need.”
“Giving back to the community, like Nourish does, makes the United States a more welcoming place for refugees who are in need”.
Our experiences today required students to not only work hard, but to collaborate, persevere, overcome challenges, and work in situations that they may not have been comfortable with. In the end, each student was able to reach some personal growth and make plans for how we, as a school, can continue to help within our community throughout the school year.
