WORLD TRAVELERS Students hail from a number of countries around the world.
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GOLF GRADUATE
BROTHERLY BOND
Senior Leah Alberto will graduate in the coming days. She will be a freshman on the Sam Houston State golf team in January.
Seniors Dakota and Dylan Mercer have relied on each other since they were young.
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HISTORY MADE The volleyball team defeated Lovejoy to win the first volleyball state title in Humble ISD.
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Kingwood Park Times DECEMBER 2018 • VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 2 • KINGWOOD, TX 77339
DAY OF SERVICE IN THEIR WORDS
IN THEIR WORDS
“A family with a small child were getting food and it showed that all the work we were doing paid off in the end because it benefited the community.”
“I met a little girl named Annabel and she was so cute. She said she was going to miss me and invited me to her birthday party.”
- Sorrel Estrada, who volunteered at H.A.A.M.
“The highlight of my day was during lunch when I sat down with these groups of kids. I asked them how their day was and they all started talking about their day. One kid said, ‘Thank you for being here.’ And that made my day."
- Madsen Cooper, who volunteered at North Belt Elementary
“The highlight of my day was when all of the 1st graders in the class hugged me in the end.”
- Saylor Robinson, who served at Hidden Hollow Elementary
“I liked being able to make conversations with people who have difficulties remembering their past.”
- Suzanne Durand, who volunteered at Silverado
- Mia Saavedra, who volunteered at Hidden Hollow Elementary
Photo by Jayme Wilkey
During a stop at Foster Elementary, freshman Casey Whitehouse reads to a group of kids that included first grader Ayah Jrab. Students helped out teachers, spent time with the kids and folded t-shirts for an upcoming fundraiser during Day of Service.
Day of Service tradition continues by Nick Farace Editor-In-Chief Day of Service was created with one goal in mind: making Kingwood Park a better place. Year in and year out, freshmen get a chance to leave an impact on the school and the community. This year’s Day of Service, which took place on Nov. 13, was the seventh year for the biggest high school related volunteer effort in the district. Assistant Principal Brian Johnson was among the teachers and staff who witnessed the creation of the day in 2011. “I took some students and teachers down to a conference focused on what we could do to make our school better,” Johnson said. The kids and teachers came back with a ton of ideas, all of which were service oriented. “After a few meetings, we planned the day," Johnson said. "We called a bunch of places, asking how many kids they needed and what kind of work needed to be done,” he said. That first year, Johnson said that the Annual Fund had not yet been established, so they had to raise their own funds. “We went out and explicitly asked for donations from businesses and families to help cover bus costs and t-shirts and things like that,” Johnson said. Fast forward seven years. Day of Service remains one of the most prominent days on the school calendar. Student Council sponsor and English teacher Natalie Johnson is in charge of making sure the day goes smoothly for all involved. Now in her second year of organizing the day, she works tirelessly contacting sites, getting permission slips and securing buses. “A lot of what I do is planning events at the beginning and end of the day,"
“Older women who work the garden said we completed in two hours what would have taken them a few weeks.”
- Luke Leger, who volunteered at Oak Forest Elementary
Photo by Eliza Gonzalez
Alexandria Spradlin works with classmates on cleaning up and planting the garden at Deerwood Elementary. The students were surprised with rare snow flurries partway through their day. Natalie Johnson said. "We want those events to kick off the day and inspire the kids, and wrap it all up and send them off with a heart of service." This year, students were sent all over the area, including Village Learning Center, Jesse Jones Park, H.A.A.M., Farrington Mission, numerous nursing homes and many elementary schools. “The weather got very cold, and we had some groups working outside, so Mrs. Schwind and I bought 40 cups of hot chocolate and delivered it to certain groups,” Natalie Johnson said. The behind the scenes work done by Natalie Johnson isn’t easy and it's never perfect. “This year, we didn’t have enough shirts," she said. "We had to scavenge around to get the students their shirts. We also had a few of the buses fill up with too many kids, so we had to switch kids around.” Brian Johnson said that the goal of Day of Service is to inspire kids to want to do more. In doing it with freshmen,
he hopes that the sense of service is fostered early. “My highlight was seeing this one family get so excited as I put food in their car was a special treat,” said freshman Sydney Ferner, who served at H.A.A.M. Regardless of what site they were assigned, the day made an impact. A lot of students walked away with ideas and goals to volunteer on a larger scale in the future. “My ultimate service goal would be raising money to build more homes in the poverty areas of Brazil," freshman Nicholas Haynes said. "I grew up there and I would like to see more people out of poverty in my home country." Brian Johnson is encouraged by all the positive responses from the kids and hopes the tradition continues to grow. “It has become a very good thing, and I think a lot of our students look back on it with fondness,” he said.
“The smiles of the people we were working with had constantly been lit up.” - Vince Ragsdale, who volunteered at Village Learning Center
"Some of the kids’ parents weren’t able to show up to their Thanksgiving feast. I felt like talking to them during the feast really changed their outlook."
- Katina Mundemba, who volunteered at Pine Forest Elementary