October 15, 2009 12:00 am
—
By MICHELLE MILLER
Staff Writer
Seventh-grade students at
Cooperstown Middle School participated
in a day of community
service last Thursday.
Students were taken to a variety
of locations such as Glimmerglass
State Park, the cemetery
in Fly Creek, The Fly Creek
Historical Association building
and the Clark Sports Center for a
hands-on opportunity to work together
and help out their community.
Students also served as
teachers helpers at the elementary
school, provided landscaping
duties at the districts Memory
Garden and Nature Center and
helped the custodial staff with
outside grounds maintenance at
the middle/high school.
``Students often hear of giving
back and helping out, but
might not know of a specific way
they could make this happen, or
even believe they could make a
difference, said seventh-grade
math teacher Deborah Miller.
``Community Service Day not
only enables them to help
for a day, but also gives
them some concrete ways
to go out and make a difference
as a young person.
Miller said many of the
sites, such as the Clark
Sports Center adventure
trails are places the students
utilize themselves.
``Now they have a
chance to return some
sweat equity and hopefully
become more inspired to
care for these places in
their community, she
said.
Seventh-grade social
studies teacher John Brotherton
said having students
perform community service
originated as part of the
seventh grade theme years
ago. He said he feels the
day serves as a break from
a normal school-day.
``It gets students out of
school, he said. ``The outside
world becomes a classroom
for a day.
Brotherton said the
event also gives students
an idea of what it is like to
help others without getting
some sort of compensation
for it.
Brotherton took a group
of students to help clean
up, maintain and close the
Glimmerglass State Park
for winter. He said it was
good for the students to get
to see the difference they
made once their hard work
was finished.
``They could look at the
trails and see what a difference
they made, he said.
Seventh-grader Dylan
Snyder said he liked getting
out of the classroom
and getting out into the
community.
``It was good knowing
we were doing something
good and were helping out
other people, he said.
Snyder said he is no
stranger to performing
community service however.
He said he usually helps
out with his church and
with other various activities
in the village.
Snyder said he and his
family go to Glimmerglass
State Park quite often and
it felt nice to volunteer
there because it is a ``really
nice place.
The seventh-grader
said he volunteered at Hyde
Hall over the summer. Snyder
said he helped with a
kids program called ``Its a
Play Date, and helped give
tours of the historic building.
Snyder said he enjoyed
reading, playing games,
and taking the kids to the
park to swim and play in
the sand.
Seventh-grader Robert
Iversen said the most important
thing he learned
from the experience was
how important it is to give
back to ones own community.
``I guess I already kind
of knew that though, said
Iversen, who said he
learned this from being a
boy scout. ``I helped out at
Glimmerglass once before.
Iversen said while
working on the trails he
and some other students
came across some clay that
they gathered and brought
back to school for art class.
The art teacher will fire it
and tell us what kind it is,
said Iversen.
Iversen said the trail
maintenance was a lot of
hard work.
``We had to wear workgloves
or else we would
have had blisters, he said.
``It involved a lot of raking
and shoveling.
The day was also a lot
of fun, said Iversen. The
seventh-grader said he and
other students were allowed
to rake up leaves and
jump into them.
``I love helping others
especially when you get to
be in a place as beautiful as
Glimmerglass, said Iversen.
``It was something different
than just going to
school, he added.
Seventh-grader Jeremiah
Darr said his favorite
part about helping clean
the trails was getting to
run the leaf blower.
He said he also found it
interesting when he and
some other students came
across some baby turtles.
At first we thought the turtles
were dead, but they
were not, said Darr. According
to Darr, he and
some of his classmates were
able to take some of the
turtles home. He said his
are in his moms room.
Darr said the cleanup
was a lot of hard work, but
a lot of fun at the same
time.
``I just do not want to be
shovel boy again, said
Darr. The seventh-grader
said his muscles hurt after
all the shoveling he had to
do.
The students worked
under the supervision of
seventh-grade teachers
Deborah Miller, Amy Parr,
John Brotherton and Micaiah
Abts.
Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc.