Students engage in community service

Jo+Grody+22%2C+Shoshana+Bernstein+22+and+more+pose+during+the+Special+Olympics+track+race.+

Iona Lee/Chronicle

Jo Grody ’22, Shoshana Bernstein ’22 and more pose during the Special Olympics track race.

Iona Lee

Community Council organized Community Service Week from April 18 to April 23 in order for students to gain more community service hours before the May 6 deadline.

The week opened with a community service club fair during lunch April 18 and other events such as the Special Olympics and clothing drive, which allowed students to donate clothes and take five items to promote sustainability . The clothes that were not taken by other students were donated to a local homeless shelter. In celebration of Earth Day, the Environmental Club hosted a vegan food truck and a used battery drop-off booth.

Emily Silkina ’23 donated clothes to the clothing drive. Silkina said she donates clothes in order to help others.

“I think that clean clothes [are] something that I take for granted, and I have more than I even need,” Silkina said. “A lot of homeless people don’t have the luxury of having clean clothes so I hope that by donating clothes, I would be able to help someone have clean clothes.”

In light of the vegan food truck, Sophie Shabani ’24 said she appreciates the school’s efforts to be more open to vegetarians and vegans, even if lines were long.

“The food was really good, but the line was really long,” Shabani said. “There are definitely a number of vegan or vegetarian people who haven’t gotten the chance to participate in every Food Truck Friday so it was cool to have one where they could eat the food.”

Jackson Adams ’24 acquired a shirt from the school’s clothing drive to wear in the future and said the clothing drive was a great opportunity to upcycle old clothes.

“The clothing drive was really cool because it offered clothes that otherwise would have gone to waste,” said Adams. “It is really good that the clothing drive used upcycling to repurpose old clothes and help them find a new home. The clothes were very high quality and great. It was a great experience in general.”

Environmental Club member Ari Ogden ’23 said the club hosted the event in order to spread awareness about sustainable practices.

“I think one of the main points was to spread awareness on some ways to practice self-sustainability [and how to] contribute more positively and [think] consciously about the decisions we make in our daily lives that affect our community, environment and climate,” Ogden said. “[Some solutions are] choosing vegan options, buying second-hand clothing and gardening and growing your own food.”