Eighth Grade Service Week: Helping Others, Writing for Reflection

By JENN SEWARD
5th, 7th & 8th Language Arts
7th Homeroom

Every morning for a week in April, Birchwood eighth graders ventured out to perform community service. Eighth Grade Community Service Week, an annual Birchwood tradition, was made possible by Mrs. Tzeng, who worked with nonprofit organizations around the area to arrange an array of experiences.
 
Allowing the students to see the needs and sometimes the deprivation in local neighborhoods through first-hand encounters is intended to help broaden students’ perspectives and enlarge their hearts. Perhaps they can be inspired to start a personal habit of “giving back” to the community. For many, it heightens appreciation for what they have.

As part of service week, students were tasked with reflecting on each experience through daily writing. These essays were to describe the organization and its mission; recount the student’s personal experience; analyze a quote about giving; and aspire to go beneath the surface to grasp what could be gained from the experience or perhaps learned about themselves. 

Eighth Grade Community Service Week connects intimately with Birchwood’s mission “to equip children to lead a life of becoming … through the development of intellect and character,” and, in particular, to help cultivate a sense of service to others – to think beyond themselves.
Below is a summary of the students’ week. Eighth graders were accompanied by Mrs. Parrino, Mr. Perrota, Mrs. Seward, and Mrs. Tzeng.
 
Monday – Greater Cleveland Food Bank
Harvest for Hunger donations come here. Students rendered many services, including making sandwiches, cooking mac and cheese, and packaging bread, fruits, and vegetables for residents of the Western Reserve.
Daily quote: “See how the masses of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there, a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Tuesday – Birchwood School of Hawken
Poor weather conditions meant forgoing a project at the Cleveland Metroparks for Plan B: tidying up their school. Students divided up to conquer several needed tasks: sorting, cleaning, and performing some maintenance on the equipment room in Fogarty Hall; sorting and cleaning the “garage” where recess gear is stored; dusting and polishing glass and trophies in cases on the first and second floor; neatening the community room, staff room, and computer lab; and picking up litter on the front lawn and in flower beds. Some students also had the chance to read to preschoolers. 
Daily quote: “Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.” – Horace Mann
 
Wednesday – West Park Kamm’s Neighborhood Development
Students picked up trash at Gunning Park, home to a playground, ballfields, a recreation center, and more. 
Daily quote: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
 
Thursday – MedWish
Started by an area physician in the late 1990s, this nonprofit collects surplus medical supplies and equipment to distribute to third-world countries lacking healthcare. Students assessed and sorted medical supplies in the warehouse. 
Daily quote: “Love of one’s neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self.” – G.K. Chesterton
 
Friday – O’Neill assisted living facility in Lakewood
Students befriended residents by visiting with them, playing games, sharing a talent, or teaching crafts. They also prepared a “showcase” that featured their interests or skills, such as playing piano or violin, making artwork and origami, sharing home-baked goods, and astronomy.
Daily quote: “We can offer up much in the large, but to make sacrifices in little things we are seldom equal to.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 
The following are excerpts from students’ essays:
 
“I find myself wondering why most, including myself, are naturally inclined to live in our personal bubble and carry out actions for the sake of ourselves. This experience has sparked a motivation to contribute to the greater good, for others.” – K.C.
 
“Originally, when I heard what my job was … I wondered how making a simple sandwich could even help people. As I … talked with others I began to realize how privileged I am. These sandwiches … could feed thousands of hungry people. For me, I can easily go ask my mom to go to the grocery store.” – Z.A.
 
“Doing nothing for others tears away at our character. It scrapes (away at our) compassion and sympathy for others. So even though cleaning Fogarty’s closet and dusting the stairwells in the school seemed like menial things, even to me, it really did help the community. Eventually many small helps build up to a big help.” – Z.A.
 
“I would love to visit the healthcare center again and meet different people. I also learned that just being there … could make a difference and potentially do a lot for them by just listening. Everyone in that facility was (once) a child just like me.” – L.N.
 
“This experience definitely benefited me as I felt like I had done something great and productive, and I realized that I should not complain about the work I do.” – D.K.
 
“Giving back to the community, to the city that raised me, brings a special feeling in my heart because I know I’m contributing to a cause bigger than myself. The more I do so, the more empowered I feel to do good.” – B.M.
 
“We built our sense of unity and responsibility, proving that giving back to others ultimately makes us better people.” – B.M.
 
“We can offer many everyday things, for example: food, toys, etc. But to offer things that are much more scarce, such as love, friendship, empathy, and such, is what we barely do and, thus, are seldom equal to. ... Donating things … is just simply not enough.” – J.Z.
 
“If we were to love our neighbor the way we do ourselves, then we can be happy … . We could be released from the dungeon … trapped by selfishness of only thinking and loving ourselves. What we did slowly breaks us free …  not just because we were told to, but because we wanted to.” – J.T.
 
“Helping others who don’t necessarily get the same treatment as you can really make a difference … If you can find an opening to your heart that can lead you to start over and become a new person.” – S.W.
 
“When we give back, we are actually building up our life … What we did … is small, but we are making a difference because we are giving back to the community. I realize that in our life, we have to give back. We can’t just take and take and take and never return what has been given … ” – S.C.
 
“Doing a little thing may help the world in a big way or impact others in a way that would be passed to others.” – O.L.
 
“By helping others, I felt like I was breaking free from my own worries and learning how powerful it is to give back … Small actions can have a bigger impact, not just on others, but on my own growth, too.” – S.B.
 
“ … When we make sacrifices in the little things that do matter, it is what … makes us stand out.” – S.S.
 
“I learned how fortunate I was to have simple/basic necessities like bread every day. The work wasn’t too difficult …  it helped me realize how easy it is to help others.” – A.K. 

Mrs. Seward is also a partner with Mrs. Tzeng in the following Birchwood Signature Programs: seventh and eighth grade Power of the Pen; sixth grade Future Problem Solving; and the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition.


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