To promote unity and to help educate her peers about mental health, Collette introduced making a Kindness Chain. We also had the privilege of having Dr. Kathleen Thorell visit us from Tudor House to speak with students about mental health and the importance of kindness. Here are Collette and fellow students pictured with just a portion of the Kindness Chain everyone worked on creating.
CHS has long honored MLK Day not as a vacation but as an opportunity to serve and reflect. In some years, we partner with organizations like Feeding America or the Rescue Mission, and in some years we honor the day with special topic teach-ins about subjects having to do with the Civil Rights Movement and with the expansion of democracy and political advocacy. This year, we focused on the history of Kingian nonviolent civil disobedience, with a special focus on King’s colleague James Lawson, the person arguably most responsible for formalizing training and technique for S.N.C.C. and other groups in the mid-1960’s. After an initial introduction, students divided into multi-age groups to think about causes they most wanted to address locally, and thought about how to employ Lawson’s teachings towards those ends. It was gratifying to see their level of investment and cooperation.
For our final Community Service Day of the year, we partnered with Roanoke City Parks and Recreation and the YMCA Express at Gainsboro. The Parks and Recreation group removed invasive species and painted fences along the Greenway, while the YMCA group helped out with a variety of projects at the facility.
This year to honor Martin Luther King Jr Day our new students learned about various nonprofit organizations and volunteering opportunities in downtown Roanoke during our winter community service day. They visited RAM House, The Spot on Kirk, and the new Angels of Assisi location, where they met leaders and community organizers at each location. Our returning students spent the day volunteering at Feeding Southwest Virginia food bank in Salem.
In an action-packed Community Service Day, we walked to Highland Park in Old Southwest to assist Roanoke City Parks and Recreation with a variety of projects. Students, faculty, and community members spread mulch at the playground, installed an art installation, removed overgrown vegetation, and spread gravel at the dog park. Check out our work the next time you visit the park!
Community members Jinny Woodall-Gainey and Sue Williams came to talk to our students about voting. They emphasized several key points:
We are thankful to Jinny and Sue for empowering our students with the knowledge and tools necessary to participate actively in their democracy.
For our third and final Community Service Day of the school year, Jonathan arranged a very successful partnership with Roanoke Parks & Recreation.
On Community Service day, new CHS students took a walking tour of various downtown nonprofit organizations including Angels of Assisi, Roanoke Diversity Center, Jefferson Center, Ursula’s Cafe, Samaritan Inn, United Way of Roanoke, Roanoke Outside Foundation, Roanoke Regional Partnership, and Council of Community Services.
Returning CHS students volunteered at the Rescue Mission and serviced in roles in housekeeping, the shelters, the pantry, and the donation center.
For our fall Community Service Day students and faculty took to cleaning up the Greenway! They rolled up their sleeves and picked up trash between the Vic Thomas and River’s Edge Parks to help make our Roanoke green space neater and nicer for the next person to enjoy.
The group also had a chance for a Q&A session with Roanoke City Parks and Recreation about volunteering. Afterwards, they hung around the River’s Edge Park for a friendly game of kickball.
