Acts of Kindness Abound with District #300 Students
by Dr. Gary Kelly
December 10, 2009
Acts of Kindness Abound With District #300 Students
Dr. Gary Kelly
Superintendent – DuQuoin Community Unit School District #300
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a much used paraphrased verse from the Bible, and many times is referred to as the “Golden Rule”. During the past week as part of a daily stroll of the halls of our schools I took time to notice the cardboard boxes being used to collect food items for our PTO’s food drive for the community food pantry. Upon examining these boxes in the hallways of our elementary school I found that many of them were filled to capacity with food items that had been brought to school by our elementary school students. It was during this reflective moment that I knew that I wanted to share the great “acts of kindness” exhibited by our students at all of our schools for this week’s rotating editorial with our newspaper.
Whether it is students at the elementary school, middle school, or high school during this school year, our students have looked to serve others through their donation of items, sharing of their time, through donating money, or through other significant contributions of placing others above themselves. In many instances we have seen students in our schools come together collectively in grades Kindergarten through twelve to raise funds for breast cancer research and awareness and through an immense collection of items for our community food pantry as an example of two district-wide efforts to help others.
At the elementary school students our students annually participate in the American Heart Association’s “Jump Rope For Heart” event, participate in efforts to raise funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, visit our community nursing homes, collected funds for the American Cancer Society, honored our local veterans, and will be sending Christmas cards to our overseas military personnel.
At our middle school, students have contributed to efforts to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital of Illinois, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, UNICEF, Muscular Dystrophy, collected books to be distributed for children outside our country, are making Christmas cards for our armed forces and packed shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Our high school students have been involved in serving at the local nursing homes, preparing a float and walking in our community Veteran’s Parade, recording the stories of our community’s World War II veterans, volunteering at the hospital, volunteering at the youth club, playing trumpet at veteran’s funerals, taking time to serve food at various community events, collecting toys for area children, collecting hats and coats for area children, and working on recycling items for our community recycling program.
As you can tell the activities in which our students are involved is not necessarily an exhaustive list. These are just a few of the examples of how our students serve others not only in our community, but in contributing to the greater well-being of others they may not necessarily know. This has also been demonstrated by having students going to places outside our community during their summer vacation time and throughout the school year to serve others through their church groups, family commitments, and an individual desire to give of themselves. It seems I could continue to write about these specific examples of charitable actions endlessly.
Where do students learn these examples of giving? I would submit the answer lies in what they see in their own homes, in our schools, and in our community. Students seem to have a keen sense of understanding of what helping others truly means. They understand that saying one thing and not fulfilling it through their actions does not embody what giving really means. They witness the involvement of their families, teachers and staff members, friends, and what churches and community organizations do in fulfilling the mission of generosity to others. In reality they are following the examples that have been set by others.
It is with a great source of pride and appreciation that I share what our students do in serving others during this time of year. Naturally during this time of year we celebrate the greatest gift of all and our students exemplify that gift through the examples of the giving of their time, effort, and dedication of serving others. I believe you will continue to see throughout this school year that our young people get the true meaning of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
