While Valentine’s day is a day where you hang out with your special person, here at Charter we like to do something different. On the high school side, Interact Club Adviser Joseph Melendez is in charge of something called “Service day”. This day takes place every year on February the 14th. Even though it’s an early release day, he tries to at least fit in four activities that the highschoolers can do. Most students don’t show up on this day so the ones that participate get eight service hours.
In past years, workshops were only for the highschoolers. This year, adviser Vicky Miglino wanted to bring it to the middle school side. Her and Melendez worked together to make this work. These middle schoolers did great with it being their first year, and they will continue to do it on both sides now.
Behind the scenes of this day a lot of planning goes into play. Melendez is in charge of the interact club so he had all his members help. They had meetings after school to discuss the workshops there were going to be. Weeks of planning was going on while no one noticed. These students would give ideas and make sure every student had a schedule for that day. These officers will help with bringing food and get all the classrooms their supplies for the activities.
This day means a lot to Melendez since when he used to go to school here he would also do this and it created a special place in his heart. After what happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, this day became even more important for everyone. That tragic day changed everyone's perspective about a day that is supposed to be all about love. Service day used to take place the day before winter break, but it got changed to Valentines Day after what happened at Douglas.
Melendez has done this for six years now and will continue to do it every year. He started doing this when he was a student. The experience stuck with him and now he wants to make every student feel how he felt when he was in highschool. This was also one of his best memories from charter and now that other schools are doing it as well the tradition keeps going. The purpose of service day is to give back to the school, eachother, and our community. When being a part of these activities you get eight service hours just for attending the four workshops.
Melendez favorite activity is the one called, “life of a refugee” .This workshop gives you a first hand look of what it's like to be in that type of situation, it's almost like a simulation. There is also an assembly that happens at the end of the day before students leave and this year's guest speakers were Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen. She talked a little about who she was and then she asked some students what problems there are going on currently. After she went to explain how those problems could be solved and what she has tried to do to save the planet as the Vice Mayor.
The last speaker was self healing coach Sivan Danon. She came to show the students how sounds work and how they all have a different meaning. She showed us videos of the different sounds and all the students were amazed by how meaningful each sound was. “These speakers were brought to motivate and inspire students. The point of the assembly is to conclude an amazing day of work, kindness, inspiring, and helping others while giving back to the community.” Said adviser Joseph Melendez.
At the end this was all very successful and helped a lot of students interact and work together. The students got to learn new things like CPR, feeding the homeless, making treats/toys for the human society, and stopping the bleeding training. Most of these workshops reflect on things these students should know how to do because it is an important life skill. It is important for students to go beyond their comfort zone and learn something valuable with the peers supporting them.
