A Dalton High School tradition: students helping others

Published 10:15 pm Friday, December 19, 2008

Dalton High School’s International Club, football team, National Honor Society chapter, culinary arts classes and Junior ROTC program all have something in common. How could such diverse groups share a common interest? The answer lies in two words: community service.

Many of Dalton High’s students participate in community service activities for their school, their community, and around the globe. These students are volunteering through a wide variety of groups at the school — not just the traditional service clubs such as Anchor, Key and Interact clubs. Extracurricular clubs, honor societies, athletic teams and even individual classes at Dalton High have taken on community service projects and volunteered countless hours to help others.

Dalton High students are part of a growing trend. Many high school students across the country are participating in community service. In fact, many colleges now consider a student’s community service and volunteer hours to be an important part of the college admission process.

Principal Debbie Freeman said the spirit of civic-mindedness at Dalton High has been growing steadily.

“I’m so proud of our students,” she said. “The more our kids do, the more they want to do. Although [community service] looks good on college applications, I feel like that is not the main goal for DHS students, because so many of them go beyond what is asked.”



Donating time and money

The giving spirit of Dalton High students begins on the school campus. Every month the culinary arts classes raise money for scholarships for fellow Dalton High students. The culinary students prepare a lunch for teachers and sell tickets for $5. Junior Emily Liner said the lunch is well attended each month.

“Teachers have to make reservations, and the introductory culinary arts classes serve the meal,” Liner said. “Last year, we were able to give three $500 scholarships to students who are planning to pursue culinary arts in college or who meet other qualifications.”

The International Club sponsors a popular Turkey Feather Fundraiser each year that benefits students. Club members hang a turkey on each teacher’s door and sell paper feathers to students for 25 cents. Students purchase the feathers for their favorite teachers. According to International Club president Laura Vareli, the proceeds of the contest go toward the International Club Scholarship which is awarded to a senior in the spring.

“We always have lots of response to the turkey feather contest,” Vareli said.

This year, teachers Michael Coulter, Brian Maskarinec and Hannah Lewis came in first, second and third respectively in the contest and had a combined total of 676 feathers on their turkeys. Coulter has won the contest for the past three years and always gives his prize, which is a turkey, to the Ronald McDonald charity organization.

The National Honor Society (NHS) helps fellow students by offering free tutoring to classmates who need extra help. NHS member Sareena Gallani, who is also active in many other clubs and activities at Dalton High, feels that her classmates really care about each other and the community.

“We have so many people here who have a passion for community service,” Gallani said. “It seems especially true this year, because so many of our clubs have added lots of new members who are eager to get involved and help.”

According to Freeman, the students in the government service classes at the school also give countless volunteer hours to Dalton High.

“These students have an interest in going into law enforcement or EMT services and similar fields,” she explained. “They provide security and crowd management at football games.”  

The students also help with parking detail for events, and they provide help to lost freshman during the first days of school each year.



Reaching out

Dalton High students also take their service efforts into the local community. Members of the football team, the girls’ basketball team, the NHS, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and even some individual classes adopted families for Christmas this year.

“We wanted to show the community that we care,” said Joey Davis, who is a junior and plays football. “It’s not just about us.”

Davis and about 17 fellow football players went shopping at Wal-Mart for a needy family. They will deliver the items to the family before Christmas.

Stryker Brown and lineman on the football team are also helping the less fortunate.

“We had some toys donated and we are taking them to the International Academy and giving them out to the Pre-K kids there,” Brown said.

Other groups are taking care of their adopted families in much the same way. The girls’ basketball team bought gifts for a middle school girl and her family. Amanda Rector, a sophomore on the girls’ basketball team, feels that helping families in the Dalton community gives her and her teammates a valuable life lesson.

“It brings us together as a team and helps us realize that there is more out there than just basketball,” Rector said.

Dalton High’s Junior ROTC program gives countless hours of community service to the local area. In October, Junior ROTC members participated in United Way’s Make a Difference Day. In December, they worked with the Salvation Army to give out toys to underprivileged children. They present the colors, a ceremony introducing the U.S. flag, at city events and tutor children at area elementary schools. Sgt. Maj. (Ret.) Heriberto Vazquez, sponsor for Junior ROTC, says the group has about 148 students.

“They have put in over 2,000 hours of community service this year,” he said.

Last year, the student council at Dalton High sponsored a breast cancer awareness event in memory of long-time Dalton High teacher Beth “Mama Cat” Nysewander. Liner, a student council member, came up with the idea of holding a student-faculty volleyball game.

“We sold tickets for $3,” she said. “We had lots of participation from students and teachers.”   Liner believes Dalton High’s teachers are a big part of the reason behind the school’s commitment to service.

Service clubs such as Beta Club and Key Club at Dalton High have also been busy. Members of both clubs volunteered as Salvation Army bell ringers for the holiday season. Key Club members worked at the Kiwanis pancake breakfast in November and also sent letters to nursing home residents and American troops. Gallani, who is a member of both clubs, says the satisfaction of helping others is what keeps her involved in community service.

“A lady thanked me while I was wiping down tables at the pancake breakfast,” she said. “You never know what action is going to touch someone’s heart or make someone’s day.”

In a strong show of support for the community, almost all of the clubs and organizations at Dalton High came together for the Cats Care food drive in November. Due to the generosity of students, faculty and many area citizens, the food drive collected about 7,000 items to be distributed to area food banks.

“I feel like the Cats Care food drive really brought the students of Dalton High together,” said Gallani. “We became a united community, working together to help others.”



Looking around the world

Students at Dalton High don’t stop their community service activities at the county, state or even the U.S. border. The school has joined with the non-profit organization Schools for Schools to raise money for the “invisible children” of war-torn Uganda. Senior Maria Crume is involved in the effort to raise money for Schools for Schools and the invisible children.

“Ugandan children are called invisible children because so many of them have to hide to keep from being taken away from their families to fight in the war in their country,” Crume explained.

Dalton High counselor Ernie Dempsey is coordinating the effort with the Schools for Schools organization.

“We have a partner school in Uganda,” Dempsey said. “Ninety percent of the funds we raise will go toward our partner school to help with water and sanitation improvements.”  

The fundraising began this fall when the school’s civics classes held a loose change drive to donate to Schools for Schools. Senior Maria Sanchez helped with the change drive.

“We went around to classes and put out cans to collect change,” she said. “We collected about $400 to send to Uganda.”

Sanchez feels it’s important to help others outside the local community as well as those near home.

Students in teacher Catherine Kinsey’s art classes and members of the National Art Honor Society are currently making and selling bracelets to raise money for the invisible children. These are no ordinary bracelets, however. The students use the same technique that Ugandan women use to make bead jewelry. Crume has made lots of bracelets using the unusual technique.

“We take pieces of magazine paper, roll them up and then use Hodge-Podge, which is a weird sort of glue, to make the pieces into beads,” she explained. “Then, we make the beads into bracelets.”

Crume says lots of students are buying the bracelets to help support the fund raising efforts.

“It’s really cool to see people wearing the bracelets,” she said. “Lots of kids have bought more than one, so you can go down the hall and see people wearing lots of bracelets to show their support,” she said.

For the past two years, the International Club at Dalton High has been working to gather funds for an elementary school in Nicaragua, according to sponsor Regina Ragon.

“We’ve given money to help put outside doors on the Nicaraguan school and bars on the windows to protect it from thefts,” Ragon said. “Some of the children were walking a mile to and from school while carrying their desks, just to keep them from being stolen.”

Ragon said they’ve also given the school computers and dictionaries.

“The advanced Spanish classes here made books for the children at the school,” she said. “We’ve also started a sewing co-op with them, where they use sewing machines to make products, and then they go and sell those items in the marketplace. We also bring their products back here to sell and then send them the profits.”

The International Club is planning to sponsor a school supply drive for the elementary school. Ragon said last year’s drive was a big success.

“Students brought in enough supplies for 150 Nicaraguan children,” she said. “The amazing thing is that many of the Dalton High students who donated supplies don’t have a lot themselves.”

Gallani, the Dalton High senior, said it best when she described the school-wide commitment to community service: “It makes me proud to be a Dalton Catamount.”