The Wheatley School took its Day of Service and Learning into the digital age this year by allowing students to review activities online and sign up to participate electronically.
The results, school officials, were noticeable.
“This just takes that to a different level,” Wheatley School principal Sean Feeney said.
Wheatley students and faculty had 36 different activities to participate in this year based on the school’s past interaction with various service groups and suggestions from the students themselves. This year was the first that students could review the activities and make their decisions online.
“It’s more organized, more efficient,” Feeney said.
The Day of Service and Learning, which was held last month, is intended to give the school’s students a sense of the importance of helping others in their community.,
The Day of Service has been formalized over the past three years, but Feeney said it is something that has been part of school tradition for a long time
“It’s very much tied to Wheatley’s mission and our belief statements, our desire to make sure that our students are productive and engaged citizens of the world,” Feeney said. “Wheatley has a long tradition of community service and this ties into that tradition.”
Over the past several years, Wheatley students have been engaged in different charitable activities, donating bicycles to children in Africa 1,500 bicycles for Africa, through their Afri-Bike Coalition as one example.
The school’s annual Walkathon, sponsored by the Key Club, raised more than $10,000 this year with that money being donated to North Shore Animal League, Diabetes Research Institute, Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk County, United Cerebral Palsy’s Children’s Learning Center, and Kamp Kiwanis.
Student assemblies preceded this year’s Day of Service, with representatives of various organizations making presentations about each organization’s mission to the students.
Activities included outdoor hands-on service such as collecting trash and raking leaves at Christopher Morley Park, planting spring bulbs at the East Williston train station and cleaning up the Veterans Memorial in Eisenhower Park. Some students prepared lunch and fed clients at the Hempstead Interfaith Nutrition Network while others prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the Wheatley School for the INN.
Some students helped disabled students at the Henry Viscardi School, while others visited the Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism to work with children on activities that build social skills. Within the school district, some music students spent the day at the Willets Road School, working with introductory band students to help them learn to play their instruments
An important aspect of the day’s activities are discussions the students engage in afterwards, intended to encourage students to reflect on the meaning of how they spent their time, Feeney said. An online survey is conducted to get feedback from the students about their experience of the day.
“We really believe in that learning aspect,” Feeney said.
As it introduces students to the concept of service, the long-term objective is to plant a seed that may inspire students to persist in doing community service. Feeney said that while the school hasn’t sought to quantify the students’ community service activities beyond the annual late October event, there are anecdotal indications that the message registers with the students.
“The hope is that this is an impetus to help push kids to do the service themselves,” he said.
