DEERFIELD — “Vincent! Vincent!” Joya Adams, a teaching assistant at Frontier Regional School, called to the seventh-graders walking ahead of her. “You guys have got to stay a little closer!”
About 50 students from the school volunteered their time helping elderly residents in the community with spring yard cleanup, such as weeding and mulching flower beds. Other groups also walked around town picking up trash.
“They’re so excited, you know?” Adams, an assistant for 18 years, said, as she directed the crew down Graves Street and gestured at the student walking ahead of her, carrying a pair of work gloves she brought from home. “And look, she even brought her gloves!”
Jason Smith, a seventh-grade social studies teacher and team leader of the project, said this is the first year students have participated in community service. The event is part of a broader leadership focus at the school that incorporates team and community building.
At the beginning of the school year, students attended an outdoor leadership day at Morse Hill Outdoor Education Center in Shutesbury. During the holiday season, students put on a holiday food, clothing and toy drive and delivered items to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in Hatfield and homeless shelters.
“The kids love it,” Smith said, “I think it’s something they’ll grow up doing. Kids spend a lot of time meeting the fundamentals of classroom life. I think it’s a great idea to think bigger, of the community at large.”
The spring project, which happens just before summer break, is the final piece of the program.
On Tuesday, at 64 Graves St., students poured mulch into a wheelbarrow and pull weeds around back deck of Pauline Kuzdeba’s house.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said, “My health is poor. I used to have my grandkids help. When the senior center offered it, I signed up.”
The school collaborated with the senior center to send students out into the community.
Isabelle Brown, a seventh-grade student, said she enjoys volunteering because she likes to make people happy. Isabelle also volunteers at her church collecting items for food drives and gardens at home with her mom.
She wore work gloves she brought from home.
“It’s good because not everyone can do this stuff,” she said, “It makes people happy. This is really fun, and I hope that we do it more in the future.”
Smith said that he wants to make community service a permanent part of the seventh-grade experience in the future.
“This is one step in helping them see themselves in the bigger picture,” he said, adding that another, smaller group of students will help out at the senior center next week.