Eastern Hancock Elementary School students cleaned up local parks and cemeteries in a service day in April.
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Eastern Hancock Elementary School had its first day of service in April, visiting public safety agencies, greeting seniors in nursing homes, cleaning up local parks and more.
Fifth-grade teacher Dustin Eck had the idea to have a building-wide day to serve the community. Each fifth-grade class paired with a second-grade class and went outside of the school district for their service day, said Principal Amanda Pyle. They brought treats to police and fire departments and Hancock Regional Hospital; interacted with seniors in a local nursing home; and cleaned the Pennsy Trail, cemeteries and parks.
First- and fourth-grade students stayed within the east side of the county and cleaned parks and cemeteries in Shirley and Wilkinson; they even spent time making tie blankets to donate to homeless kits.
Kindergarten and third-grade students served inside the school, cleaning parts of the building, creating snack packs for middle school and high school staff, painting rocks for flowerbeds and serving lunch to the cafe staff.
“It was an amazing day,” Pyle said.
Eck said one of the school’s values is leadership that serves, and what better way to teach students about the value than actually doing it.
“The hope is that the kids will see more and more opportunites to serve and jump in to help others,” he said. “I hope this taught them that there is joy in helping others and making others’ days better, and if you bring other people along, it can also be fun!”
