Business & Tech
Students Work Hard on Their Day Off
Students at Burgundy Farm Country Day School team up with students at Jefferson-Houston School to spend MLK Day in service to others.
Class wasn’t in session on Martin Luther King Day, but the classrooms at Burgundy Farm Country Day School were brimming with students, hard at work.
The school was joined by students at Jefferson-Houston School for the second annual Martin Luther King Day of Service.
Inspired by President Obama urging Americans to make Martin Luther King Day a day on, not a day off, Burgundy Farm Country Day School decided to enact a school-wide day of service last year. They continued the tradition in 2011, and invited students from Jefferson-Houston to join in.
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“Let’s connect with the greater community,” said Head of School Jeff Sindler, remarking on the joint effort to make a difference.
The Day of Service featured classrooms full of projects. Students decorated cookies and put together box lunches for the homeless. Kids compiled buckets of cleaning supplies for low income residents transitioning into apartments; students even recorded audio books for people who can’t read.
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“This is the second year for us but it feels like we’ve been doing it all along,” said Sindler.
More than 300 students and their parents showed up at the school Monday and not a single one of them seemed unhappy to see a classroom on their day off. The entire experience was backed by community non-profit agencies that had representatives on hand to help kids with projects.
“I’m impressed but not surprised by the turnout,” Sindler said. “People were very receptive to the idea of doing something.”
And that includes the students themselves.
8th graders were floaters at today’s event - they pitched in wherever they were needed.
“It’s nice to do a service related project on a day you can actually do it,” said 8th grader Kent Jenkins. “I like knowing that I’m making a difference, it’s a really great project and it is fun!”
Some students played trivia games where right answers earned food for Freerice.com. Other projects included making new baby welcome kits for Healthy Families Alexandria and Adopt-Me dog bandanas for the Alexandria Animal Shelter. There were 20 service projects in all and students were able to participate in several throughout the day.
