WHS Class of 2010 gives back to the community
Before scattering to the four winds to attend colleges across the nation, the members of the Wooster High School Class of 2010 seized the opportunity to say thank you to the community by taking part in Senior Give Back Day.In the five years since the first Senior Give Back Day, graduating seniors from Wooster High School have donated thousands of hours of their time to community service projects across the city. According to Wooster High School Principal Anita Jorney-Gifford, this year alone, the senior class contributed 600 hours in volunteer labor.
"Senior Give Back Day is a chance for these students to show the community they care about Wooster and wanted to express that with their labor of love," said Jorney-Gifford.
More than 185 students and 22 faculty members and adults fanned out across the community on the morning of May 27 to take part in service projects before gathering at Freedlander Park for an afternoon senior picnic.
Students headed out to the district's six elementary schools, Edgewood Middle School, Wooster High School and the central office building downtown, sprucing up the grounds and weeding and mulching flower beds, in addition to assisting in the sixth-grade Science Olympiad.
According to Jorney-Gifford, at Wooster High School alone, students spread two dump trucks full of mulch in front of the school and cleaned and mulched the Brian Lacey Memorial Gardens.
But one of the biggest beneficiaries of the senior class's labors was the city of Wooster's park system, and Freedlander Park in particular.
"Seventy-five seniors and their leaders gave roughly 225 hours of community service," said Daryl Decker, city of Wooster parks manager, noting that their work equated to "a gift of over $3,825 to the people of Wooster."
According to Decker, seniors worked extensively on the park's popular 18-hole disc golf course where they placed 24 yards of mulch, moved 11 tons of road grindings to build a tee box and solve a drainage problem, pruned and cleaned the course for summer play and installed a number of new tee marker sign posts.
They also helped ready Freedlander Pool for opening day, cleaning and placing all the pool furniture and locker room matting, replacing pool lane lines and cleaning the bleachers for summer swim programs.
Seniors also leveled and placed 85 tons of soil to facilitate the bench area at the Wooster girls fast pitch complex and gave a storage building at the Freedlander Observatory a fresh coat of paint.
"This once again was a great day with Wooster City Schools," said Decker.
"We value the partnership and the opportunity to work with the fine young adults that are this years' graduating class," said Decker. "Wooster excels in its academic accomplishments and through volunteer days like today they also show their community pride, responsibility as well as the motivation and drive that has made them a successful class."
Decker expressed his thanks directly to the class of 2010 saying, "we hope in your efforts with us today that you found a relationship that will last with the Wooster Park system. We value your time, the work you gave and the opportunity to share our parks with you."