Rice Lake High School held its annual Community Service Day for seniors on April 17. Because it was a rainy day, most activities were done indoors, such as connecting with students in the younger grades and helping out at the Humane Society of Barron County’s animal shelter. Seniors in the technical education program built two types of raised garden beds for a community gardening program.
“As we searched for community service projects, Kathy Splett with UW Extension contacted us about building five raised garden beds for the Barron Community Gardens located at Barron County Developmental Services in Barron,” said Ryan Erickson, technical education instructor.
“While Wednesday was a rainy day, students worked hard to build the five raised garden beds at the high school tech-ed shop before delivering them to the garden site in Barron,” Erickson said. “Students enjoyed the hands-on project where they were able to put the skills they have learned in their tech-ed classes to use in a meaningful project helping others here in Barron County.”
Splett, who is the Extension’s FoodWIse coordinator for Barron and Rusk counties, was appreciative of their efforts.
“The Barron Community Garden Committee is so appreciative of the service that Rice Lake High School seniors and instructor Ryan Erickson did to build beautiful, raised beds for our garden on Community Service Day,” she said. “The raised beds will help older participants be able to continue gardening because of the advantage of standing to maintain their garden.”
She added, “The BCG Committee is experimenting with three types of raised beds to see which is more productive and easier to use and maintain. The seniors built three wooden rectangular beds and two wooden framed barrel beds. The committee will also be building four round, cattle panel beds with sheep wool and burlap. The committee is excited to see how each type of raised bed turns out this season.”
The FoodWIse coordinator assured that produce grown in the beds will be enjoyed and shared.
“Produce from the community garden and excess from gardeners’ plots will be donated to the Barron Cupboard and Closet food pantry and the Barron County Nutrition Program,” Splett said.
Humane Society
Shyleigh Iveland, manager of the Humane Society’s animal shelter, was pleased with the seniors who chose to serve its homeless, four-legged, furry residents.
“The kids who helped out here did an amazing job,” Iveland said. “They helped us clean fans and replace light bulbs, deep clean, reorganize our storage spaces and scrub down our dog kennels to help them look almost as good as if they were brand new.
She added, “They also got to spend some time socializing cats and helped set up spaces for new animals coming in. They were incredibly generous and genuinely seemed to enjoy being able to help with anything we needed.”
Hilltop
Hilltop Elementary School Principal Natalie Springer appreciated those seniors who made connections with elementary students.
“During Community Service Day, some of the high schools students spent their time reading with the Hilltop students and assisting with art and phy-ed classes,” Springer said. “The elementary students enjoy the time the older students spend with them. Being able to share their love for books with upperclassmen is an activity elementary students value.”
“Students spent the morning working in multiple classrooms helping students with various tasks such as reading, math and playing games,” added high school math teacher Trevor Kiehl, who supervised. “The high school students did a great job working with the elementary students and you could tell the elementary students loved having the high school students there!”
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