Freshman students at Neenah High School donated time, raised money and performed several other activities to aid a variety of community organizations through their Freshman Seminar classes this fall.
The Freshman Seminar program is in its third year and was designed as a way to help acclimate incoming students to Neenah High School. Each class is led by a Neenah High School teacher and several upperclass students. One aspect of the class is to create and execute a community service project.
Each of the 21 classes had a different service project and displayed them at an inaugural “Community Service Fair” at Neenah High School on Nov. 27. The fair was held in the Armstrong wing of the school and provided each group a way to present the details of their project to other students and staff. Members of local charitable community groups also attended the fair to show students what volunteer opportunities are available.
Five classes did activities to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. One group made cookies for the children, while another raised $100 through gorilla grams. One class raised $120 to go towards 15 gift boxes for the children, another tied blankets and gave them to the patients and another showed a Halloween movie that raised money for pillowcases and dyes for the children.
Three groups assisted the Neenah Animal Shelter as one class organized a penny war that raised over $100, while others made pet blankets and collected pet supplies. Local nursing homes benefitted as one group made 150 cookies and Thanksgiving cards for patients at Peabody Manor and another decorated pumpkins and created “joy jars” as the students from both groups delivered the gifts and spent time with the elderly.
A group collected wish items for the Fox Valley Emergency Shelter, another helped at the Salvation Army soup kitchen and another collected enough canned goods and fixings for two Thanksgiving dinners that were donated to a local church. One class raked leaves for nearby residents and also conducted a food and clothing drive that collected 31 full bags of clothes.
One class had an activity that hit close to home as one of its upperclass leaders has epilepsy, so the group did a “walk for epilepsy” that raised $100. Another class spent time with special education students at Neenah High School, playing games and organizing a Christmas party.
A class read books to students at Tullar Elementary School and another volunteered its time for the Helping Hands craft fair and book fair. One class sold “candy cane grams for cancer” to benefit Neenah fourth-grader Sean Johnson.
Individuals outside of Neenah also benefitted from the projects as one group wrote letters to soldiers overseas and a group raised money to save two acres of rainforest and helped raise awareness of rainforest devastation.
Some of the groups are continuing activities through the end of the Freshman Seminar program at the close of the first semester on Jan. 16. |