What do you get when 900 middle schoolers head out into the community during a school day? If they’re from Grayson County Middle School, you get a Day of Service unlike any other.
Fanning out across the community, students worked on various projects on the GCMS campus, at Leitchfield City Park, Wilkey and its preschool, Grayson Manor and the Alliance Food Pantry. They helped with cleanup projects, planted raised bed gardens, and packed and distributed food. They also made cards for service members and created unique crafts from the heart for nursing home and rehab residents.
The project is the brainchild of Assistant Principal David Morgan, who’s long looked for meaningful ways to involve students in projects that benefit the community and also help them grow as future citizens.
“We have great kids and we want them to be out in our community doing awesome things,” he said.
It’s an opportunity to serve others, he added, and also show students the good they can do through seemingly simple acts and thoughtfulness.
Teacher Lori Carroll remarked that her students who worked at the Alliance Food Pantry enjoyed the special day helping organize food, pack and deliver it for carside pickup to more than 100 families and individuals.
“It’s been an eye opening experience,” she said, noting that they didn’t realize how many community members were served by the organization.
Carroll also noted the mix of students in the groups. Since her team was divided by their interests, they also got to team up with students they may not typically have an opportunity to work with day-to-day and some new friendships were formed.
Teacher Rebecca Kimber was thankful for the group that helped Wilkey preschool wrap up its school year with some deep cleaning. “Today has been fantastic. They’ve come in eager to work and help. They’ve gotten it done quickly and very professionally. They’ve been very hard workers.”
Morgan believes it’s also important for the community to see these students shine. The Day of Service project is a reflection of the school’s Core Values - caring, determination, honesty, respect, and responsibility that are woven into the fabric of GCMS life and learning. They’re also an offshoot of the 5-year Strategic Plan developed by staff and community in Summer 2023.
According to Morgan, community and business leaders shared the traits and skills they view as important for students to develop. “We referred that back to our core values and realized we need start going out to our community, play off those core values, teach these kids these character traits that are going to be so important in their lives.” The Day of Service was one way to learn not just about those traits, but to bring them to life through action.
Students felt it would have an impact on their attitude toward service and they’d look for ways to continue to give back.
Meredith Baldwin and Story Schultz enjoyed themselves cleaning preschool rooms. Baldwin said working with a friend had made the day of helping fun but it was also “good to know that we’re actually doing something good.” She said she would continue to look for service projects in the future since “ It’s fun to be able to do it and also know it’s for a good cause.”
Helping and friendship was also high on Victoria Salvador’s takeaways from the day as she said, “I helped a lot and I made a new friend.”
Moving forward, Morgan noted that, “These seeds are needed to be put in their heart and their lives to understand that there are people that are less fortunate, people that have different problems and we can help.”
One of his goals is that “as they move on to high school they’re thinking about service , they’re thinking about helping others, thinking about using those characteristics, those traits the rest of their lives and are willing to help others.”
GCMS Principal Gary Parker was proud to have the opportunity to "share the great things we have going on at GCMS with our community.”
"Big credit to Mr. Morgan for spearheading this event, with input from our Principal's Advisory Council students,” he said. “This was a great way to help our students understand the impact they can have on our community, right here in Grayson County."