Middle school students serve

FAIRFIELD — Middle School students donning matching gray shirts, designed by the student leadership team, flooded the Fairfield community Friday for a day of service.

“Some of the services provided were picking up trash, washing windows, cleaning flower beds, reading to elementary students, visiting with nursing home residents, laying mulch in flower beds, piling sticks, raking leaves, hanging signs at the ballpark,” Fairfield Special Education Teacher Beth Ward said.

One group of students spent their day picking up trash and sticks at Chautauqua Park.

“It is very tiring to do, but it’s good to do it,” eighth-grader Maylee Trump said as she made her way out of a tree line with trash in her gloved hands.

“It’s been fun but also hard work,” sixth-grader Katelyn Brecount said.

Sixth Grade Language Arts teacher Sara Polk thought the students enjoyed the service day overall, but especially liked walking the trail through Chautauqua Park.

As they walked the trail, “one student acted like it was almost a game to see who can grab the most trash,” Polk said with a chuckle.

Another group spent their day at Fairfield Little League Park where they raked leaves, picked up trash, and hung sponsor signs n the fences.

“ … then they finished up with a game of kickball,” Fifth grade teacher Kristen McCready said.

Fifth-grader Haidyn Hinrichs thought, “it was pretty helpful and fun.”

The group eighth-grader Alejandra Carminhato served with spent their time at Heritage Park and around downtown Fairfield.

She found she really connected with the service project as they finished up their work at Heritage Park.

“We went to Heritage Park and picked up all the trash there,” she said. “We picked up sticks and put them by the side of the road so someone can take care of them.”

“When we were about to leave, we saw a couple of families with small kids come to play at the park,” Carminhato said. “It felt good to know we made it safer for them to play there.”

According to Ward, this was the first year that they hosted an all-school service day, but the act fit well with the values that Fairfield Middle School hold to “Dream, Think, Lead, and Act.”

“Fairfield Middle School is a Leader in Me school and part of that is being service minded,” Ward said. “The group of staff who organized the event thought there was no better way to serve than to go out into our community to help spring clean.”

According to Ward, this whole day of service could only come to fruition thanks to generous donations from numerous local businesses.

“We are so grateful to all the businesses who donated money for every student and staff member to have a shirt today,” the school publicly stated on the district Facebook page. “ … We can't thank our community enough for the waters that were donated and the businesses that allowed us to come help serve them. We live in such a wonderful community! We are so grateful that our students were able to finally give back for everything the community does for our school district. Can't wait to do it again!”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com