What it Means to Serve, Students Weigh in During Service Week
Students at Concord Christian Academy pack rice, lentils and beans to send off to countries in need
High school students at Concord Christian Academy recently wrapped up Service Week, a time set aside every year to volunteer and help with various service projects that the school organizes. Service Week is a fixture of the school’s curriculum and it ties in perfectly with Mission Life’s Service Learning Project students have been participating in as part of the pilot this year.
The projects this year included clearing and cutting brush to make way for a new fence on the school property, putting on children’s worship for the elementary school children at the school and bagging rice, bean and lentils that will be shipped to some of the 35 countries in need the humanitarian organization, Unto works with. Mission Life was there to see the high school students in action!
We caught up with some of the students we have gotten to know this year through our service learning project to hear more about their projects as well as their thoughts about what service means to them.
Jaden Peterson is a senior and he says serving and building relationships go hand in hand.
“Even just getting to know the people you are working for makes such an impact on my life because I get to hear where they come from. Everyone will have a completely different story but you just get to hear everything they’ve been through and why they need your help. So many people are so grateful for all that you’re doing for them, even the small things we wouldn’t even think about,” Peterson says.
Mallory Syvertson, also a senior, has done 3 service weeks. She says it has been a blessing to be able to serve others.
“I love that our school has a required 100 service hours you need in order to graduate. At the beginning students feel like I really don’t like to do this but by the end they’re like this is actually super fun and i’m going to continue to do this. So if you start serving as a student then that builds a foundation for you to serve as an adult because you want to not because you have to,” Syvertson says.
Simon Scott is graduating this year and he has already found his passion: telling people’s stories through his video and media skills.
“It is different for me because I love to do what I do. A lot of these kids are here doing camps, for me I’m doing what I love. It brings joy to my heart to see people love what i do and me helping them for no price. Sometimes working is good but when it comes to spreading the word of God and serving people because you are trying to spread the word of God, it really changes the way you look at what you do for a living, what you do as a passion,” Scott says.
Charlie Taylor is a sophomore. This is his first Service Week. He helped with the daily children’s worship.
Taylor says, “The coolest thing for me is to know you’re helping someone and that you’re just involved I guess. Especially when the teachers come up to you and say the kids really enjoyed that. If the kids are actually excited that’s cool but it is even cooler that the teachers can see the difference and they can see the kids were talking to each other about it and they were super hyped in their classes and i just think its cool to see we are making a difference even if its just in a small way here at the school.”
Hear more of our interviews with the students on what they think of the Service Learning Project, about the humanitarian project they were working on and some advice from one of the seniors to her fellow underclassmen.