Students helped the Los Angeles (L.A.) Boys and Girls Club make arts and crafts projects at St. Patrick’s School Monday. The children, who were in first through seventh grades, created paper snail-shaped heart letters that they gave to their friends and family for Valentine’s Day.

According to its website, the nonprofit organization provides after-school programs to kids across L.A., including academic, sports and art classes.

Students earned three community service hours for participating. The graduation requirement for every student is 12 hours of community service per year.

Community Council member Sophia Rascoff ’23 contacted the L.A. Boys and Girls Club director and organized the event.

Amanda Allen ’23 said she decided to participate because she thought an arts and crafts event would be an entertaining way to earn hours.

“I think it’s fun to do these arts and crafts projects,” Allen said. “I don’t usually do these types of activities but I wanted to get myself out there and do more stuff. It was definitely a fun, enjoyable event. I enjoyed seeing the little snail hearts that the kids created.”

Miles Misczynski ’23 said he enjoyed helping the children with their letters because they were grateful for his help.

“My favorite part of the event was the immediate connection I felt towards the kids and the sensation I felt knowing that I made a positive impact on all of their days,” Misczynski said.

Junior Prefect Yoshi Kimura ’23 helped prepare the crafts for the event and left some extra materials for future art projects at the club. Kimura said although she was not able to attend the event, she was appreciative to be able to help out in any way she could.

“Since our schedules are often so busy and packed, we tend to stress over the things we have going on in our lives,” Kimura said. “Community service provides an opportunity for us to zoom out of that mindset– we get to think about our impact on the community as a whole, and not just focus on ourselves. It benefits those we’re helping and ourselves, and as such, I think it’s an important part of our education.”