Fifty-two high school students from East Lee Campus volunteered their time in our Reclamation Department as a part of their project-based learning class.
A teacher that helped organize this project said students had been learning about numerous nonprofit organizations in West Michigan through various lenses—like social studies, science, math and English—and wanted to take it one step further and have them physically go and help out to see how volunteering can help make a difference.
“The big thing about project-based learning is that it’s something different. Students get the chance to do something and explore things that interest them.”
As a group, they helped rescue almost 4,000 pounds of eggs, which will be sent directly to neighbors in need through our Mobile Food Pantry program.
A driving question students were pondering as they volunteered was “Can volunteering benefit both the recipient and the volunteer?”
In response to that, one student said, “Volunteering can benefit both yourself and other people by helping the other person with whatever they’re going through, and for yourself you get the joy of helping others.”