Before receiving their diplomas and heading off to pursue the educational and career opportunities that await them, members of the Wooster High School Class of 2011 paused to express their appreciation of the support given to them by the community by taking part in Senior Give Back Day.
Since its inception six years ago, graduating seniors from Wooster High School have donated thousands of hours of their time to community service projects across the city on Senior Give Back Day.
According to Wooster High School social studies teacher Misty Bisesi, this year 140 seniors took part in this culminating event of their high school careers.
When inclement weather prevented the students from taking part in many of the landscaping projects on the agenda, the seniors turned their attention to indoor tasks.
Bisesi said that while some members of the class of 2011 helped organize physical education equipment and cleaned windows at the high school, others traveled to the districts six elementary schools, reading to students and helping the teachers grade papers and prepare their rooms for the upcoming summer break.
Despite the persistent rain, one outdoor project close to the seniors hearts was completed.
With Bisesis help, a team of more than a dozen students completed work on a memorial at the high school to Jessica Schmucker, a fellow classmate who died in an automobile accident after her freshman year. The memorial, which sits right outside the entrance to the school by the Gault Recreation Center, includes memorial stones, a tree and flowering bushes.
After the mornings work was completed, the students gathered at the high school to share lunch together one more time in the commons and to enjoy the facilities at the Wooster High School pool and Gault Recreation Center.
Wooster High School Principal Anita Jorney-Gifford said that when the weather improved after lunch, a group of 20 student volunteers made the short trek down Oldman Road to help members of the city of Wooster Parks Department install plants and mulch flowerbeds near the newly constructed concession stand building at the Kinney Field Soccer Complex.
With their educational careers in the Wooster City School District winding down, Senior Give Back Day was an opportunity for the faculty and staff to impart one last lifelong lesson to the students.
Senior Give Back Day is an important way to finish up your career at Wooster High School, said Bisesi.
It reinforces to the students how important it is to be in involved in ones community. We hope they take that lesson with them as they grow into adulthood, said Bisesi.
Senior Give Back Day is an absolutely fabulous culminating event to each and every year, said Superintendent Michael Tefs.
The initiative entails high-quality service-learning projects that engage our graduating seniors in meeting community needs with demonstrable results, while enhancing students academic and civic learning, said Tefs.
Senior Give Back Day also gave the graduating seniors one last opportunity to spend time together before they scatter across the country to pursue their future endeavors.
It also gives them that one last day to be together with childhood friends before they go off in different directions to pursue their dreams, said Bisesi.
