This year the theme at Tri-City Adventist School (TCAS) in Pasco, Wash., has been "Do Something." It has been our goal to actively engage our students in service to our community. Throughout the year TCAS students have delivered bread to our neighbors and assisted the local diaper bank, and each week they have provided hands and feet for the Pasco Riverview Church food bank.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017, found all the students getting actively involved in doing something different. Spencer Hannah, TCAS principal, says, “It was our desire to have every student — kindergarten through 10th grade — doing something for our community on the same day. We thought it would be pretty cool to see how much impact we could make in just one day.”
So TCAS students grabbed their rakes, warmed up their vocal chords, donned their gloves, packed their bells, grabbed their trash bags and hit the community to make a difference. Some students sang and played for seniors at a local retirement inn, read them the news, played games with them, and then engaged them in activity and conversation. Other students found themselves at local homes where they raked leaves, weeded flower beds, cleaned out bushes and did incredible yard work.
The food bank once again benefited from the energy and hard work of the sixth-grade class as they made boxes, filled them with food they had sorted and transported the boxes to the vehicles of the more than 250 families served in just one morning. The junior high and high school students were miles away on a trip but they got in the spirit as well — working one morning to support the Cat Tales Zoological Park and Rescue Sanctuary in Spokane, Wash.
One site had unexpected visitors as news crews from local stations KNDU and KEPR showed up to record the activity and interview the students, teacher and resident. Fifth- and sixth-grade teacher Sara Harris shares, “My students had a great time serving in our community, and they were super excited when the news crews showed up to cover our community service project.” Both stations carried the story on their evening news — showing our community how TCAS students are indeed able to "Do Something."
“I believe we achieved our goal of student engagement in service and making an impact on our community,” says Hannah. “We will certainly be planning to do more days like this in the future.”