Lake Students In Action dig in to help Toledo GROWs
The 2010-2011 school year has been one of transition, adaptation and growth for Lake High School students. Whether from the loss of a family member, friend, home, personal items, or their school, students were faced with two options - become overwhelmed by loss or embrace change. Many of the students have chosen to, like Gandhi suggested, “Be the change.”
In the aftermath of last June’s tornado, service to others became a new campus culture. Perhaps students were inspired by the volunteers that showed up in legions to help restore a sense of normalcy to the youths’ lives. No matter what the reason, hundreds of Lake students evolved into community servants, eager to lend a helping hand to someone in need.
 |
| Lake Students in Action Greenlese and Trevor Walsh dig in to help prepare a Toledo GROWS garden for the season. |
The impetus to increase volunteerism is being led by Lake’s Students In Action/Youth Jefferson Awards team, under the leadership of senior Casey Witt and advisor, guidance counselor William Pixler.
Lake was one of four schools selected by Leadership Toledo in 2009 to pilot a program to utilize the prestigious Jefferson Awards to pass the tradition of service and volunteerism to the next generation of Americans.
Through their efforts, Lake High School earned the honor of represent all high schools in the Toledo region at the upcoming national Jefferson Awards ceremonies in Washington, D.C. Lake competed with 15 other high schools, and was chosen for their mastery of various criteria.
“Students In Action was created to help promote volunteerism by identifying student volunteers and then recognizing them for their efforts,” Pixler said. “Initially, that was hard, because the students who are involved in volunteer activities typically are giving of themselves completely altruistically – without any desire for recognition.”
As part of their volunteer efforts, Lake “SIA” students visited the Oneida Greenhouse on the corner of Oneida and Locust streets in downtown Toledo May 10 to support the efforts of Toledo GROWs, the community gardening outreach program of Toledo Botanical Garden. A grassroots nonprofit organization, Toledo GROWs is dedicated to the continued growth and success of community-based gardens in the city of Toledo and throughout NW Ohio.
At mid-morning, the students took a break from their efforts to present a Youth Jefferson Award to senior Adrienne Lowe. The award is given each grading period to students who give their time as volunteers and who display leadership qualities in school.
“Working with Toledo GROWs turned out to be a service-learning project for us,” Pixler said. “In addition to helping with the gardens, students learned a great deal.
“The people we worked with were incredibly generous with their time, teaching students about raising plants and fish – which they do at the garden too – along with composting, recycling and reclaiming the land.
“We really got more than we bargained for.”
Lake Students In Action Hailey Greenlese and Trevor Walsh dig in to help prepare a Toledo GROWs garden for the season.
 |
Education 
Subscribe to this comment's feed