On Friday, Feb. 23, seventh and eighth graders at William Allen Middle School learned about the importance of giving back.
On Friday, Feb. 23, William Allen Middle School was abuzz as students with every seventh and eighth grader hard at work on one lesson — the importance of giving back. Students brought in supplies and created items to donate to local shelters and charitable organizations as part of a school-wide service learning project.
Each grade at WAMS is split into three teams, and every marking period, these teams participate in “Quaker Time,” which focuses on a variety of topics. For more than five years, February’s Quaker Time topic has been service learning.
The seventh-grade teams worked on a variety of projects including creating birthday boxes to donate to local pantries, assembling “Survival Kits” for the Moorestown Police Department, weaving no-sew fleece blankets for local nursing homes and hospitals, creating dog toys for nearby animals shelters and making stress relief squishy goo for WAMS staff members.
Eighth graders, on the other hand, worked on one joint project with students assembling utensil bags, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and “blessing bags” to be donated to Joseph’s House of Camden.
Seventh-grade math teacher Allison Longmuir said their goal is to two-fold. The first is to teach students the importance of teamwork and to show them how to work together to achieve a goal. The second is to underscore the importance of giving back and to teach students there are people in need of items they may take for granted.
“It’s about giving back to the community that gives to them,” Longmuir said. “They’re at an age where they can learn that.”
Longmuir said the school-wide initiative takes a good deal of coordination to bring together each year. She said once each team decided what they wanted to do, a sign-up genius went out asking students and their families to bring in materials for the projects.
Heather Foster, eighth-grade writing to learn teacher, said eighth-grade students were encouraged to bring in utensils, toiletries, snacks and other supplies to be donated to Joseph’s House. She said they decided that rather than split up into their individual teams, their students could make a greater impact if they combined forces and united around one cause.
She said assembling bags of snacks and toiletries for the less fortunate demonstrates to students that not everyone has food or basic supplies at their disposal. Foster said the day of service gets students thinking.
“I really do think they introspectively reflect even if they don’t outwardly say it a lot,” Foster said.
For seventh grader Kira Locatell, the message of the day was clear.
“We take a lot of things for granted, and we have to help other people,” Locatell said.
Locatell was one of several students assembling birthday boxes, which will be distributed to local shelters. She said many students her age are lucky to be able to celebrate their birthday, but for those who may not have this ability, she was happy to create a box consisting of cake mix and a card to help someone less fortunate make their birthday special.
Seventh grader Sean Hughey echoed Locatell’s sentiments. He said the day was about learning to give back — especially to those who are give back to you. Hughey helped assemble “Survival Kits for Police” consisting of a variety of candies and an accompanying note thanking officers for their service.
“We are giving back to what the policemen do for us everyday,” Hughey said. “They help out, they protect people and they come to the rescue.”
Longmuir said once all the projects are completed, staff and other volunteers will take the items and distribute them to local organizations.
Principal Matthew Keith said each year Moorestown High School boasts thousands of community service hours, but in his eyes, it’s important to get students started even before they get there. He said middle school is a critical time to start teaching kids the importance of giving back.
“Doing it here as team and as a grade level with the teacher’s guidance, the hope is that it builds a little bit of a foundation for kids to try to seek things out on their own,” Keith said.
At the end of the day, Keith said he hopes students go home with a renewed desire to make an impact.
“The biggest takeaway is to look outside of yourself,” Keith said. “Look at the world around you and see how you can help.”
