Community Service Projects

From filling boxes with supplies for needy children in other countries to ringing bells for the Salvation Army to collecting food for the local soup kitchen, USJ students and faculty are busy with many community service projects during the school year. USJ students must have 50 hours of community service to graduate, and all student organizations must complete at least one service project each year.

Service to the community is just a part of learning at USJ. Below are just a sampling of the many ways students and faculty members work in tandem to give back.

• The USJ Lower School bi-annually participates in the Memphis St. Jude Math-a-thon, raising money for cancer research. In 2007, this endeavor raised over $40,000, ranking USJ #1 in the nation among schools who participated.

• The Chemistry Club most recently collected over 10,000 pounds of food for the Regional Inter-faith Association, our local food bank for the homeless.

• The Spanish Club and National Spanish Honor Society annually sponsor an Angel Christmas Tree, which most recently collected 12 large boxes of supplies, most of which were children’s vitamins that were distributed at an orphanage in The Dominican Republic.

• The Operation Smile Club, in its inaugural year, was able to purchase a surgery table for reconstructive surgeries for impoverished children suffering from a cleft lip or cleft palate.

• Other various clubs and organizations at USJ sponsor  service projects that benefit the following throughout the year:  Lifeblood, Soles 4 Souls, Operation Christmas Child, Carl Perkins Child Abuse Prevention Center, Ronald McDonald House, Jackson-Madison County Humane Society, American Cancer Association, and The Salvation Army.

A big heart for Japan

When the tsunami hit Japan on March 11, the world stood in anguish as the tragic scenes played on the news. For Middle and Upper School students at USJ, it was a call to action.

“Shortly after the tsunami, sixth grade student Momoho Nonaka, a native of Japan, mentioned to me she wanted to help her country,” said Courtney Burnette, Middle School Director. “She wanted to raise money and do anything else we could to help. I knew the right group to organize this effort was the student council.”

In the Upper School, the National Honor Society also heeded the call to help. Under the leadership of faculty advisor Rebecca Lilienstern and National Honor Society officers, the idea for the “Have a Heart for Japan” campaign was underway.

National Honor Society officers challenged their peers to contribute money for Japan. When the Middle School joined the efforts, the idea of a competition to see which division could raise the most funds was planted. Each campaign lasted a week.

At the end of the competition, the Middle School had raised $1,119, while the Upper School raised $1,002. The money was given to the Jackson Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Jennifer McCraw, Executive Director of the Jackson Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, stands with Middle School students Momoho Nonaka, Molly Morris, Caroline Miller, Kristen Pickens, RM English, and Allyson Fisher.	National Honor Society officers — Halle Priester, Abbey Orr, Audrey Hazlehurst, Grace Howard, and Thomas Burton urged Upper School students to give.

 

RIFA

Here are pictures of the food from Lower School students being sorted and loaded by Upper School students for RIFA. 

 

Operation Smile - USJ students reach across the world

A new club started by Upper School students in 2010 has children smiling around the world. The club benefits Operation Smile, an organization that provides free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities in children.

The club was started after two students, Margaret Crocker and Shelby Jordan, went to Denver on a student leadership conference. Ann Elizabeth Lynch, Georgia Poole, and Anthony Spates were also inaugural officers and elemental leaders in the club. With more than 60 members, the club has raised money for Operation Smile projects with T-shirt sales, a bake sale, and a penny race in the Upper School. Last year, they were able to raise more than $600 to sponsor a surgery table.

Margaret Crocker went on a mission to Guwahati, India, and got to see the money the USJ club raised being put to use. More than 122 surgeries were performed during that mission in India.

Over the 2011 summer, Margaret, Shelby, Georgia and Lashlee Randolph attended the international cultural student exchange in Beijing, China. More than 800 high school and college students from 23 different countries gathered to enhance their knowledge of
global cultures and develop into future philanthropic leaders. At the conference, USJ won the award for Best New Club worldwide.

Summer Trip to Guatemala

This summer a group of USJ students (Jordan Ragon, Will Wright, Edward Hockaday, Austin Rogers, and Austin Orr) and alumni (Mallory Griggs, Logan Wall, and Abbey Orr) were among those who traveled to Guatemala on a mission trip with West Jackson Baptist Church.  While there, the students conducted Bible school to 1,000 students at a public elementary school in the village of Patzcia. All the USJ students served as interpreters on the trip as they were fluent in Spanish. They got the opportunity to travel to Antigua one day where they took in the sights of the old, historical Spanish town with its beautiful baroque architecture and shopped in the local market. This group stayed at Casa Para Ninos Aleluya Orphanage for a week where they did various service projects on the property and played and interacted with the children. One of the highlights of the trip was giving brand new tennis shoes to the boys in one of the dorms at the orphanage. The children jumped up and down and yelled with excitement over receiving something as simple as shoes. The trip was a very rewarding and life-changing experience for all. 

 

 

Community Service… A school-wide project

Senior Abbey Orr spent part of her 2010 Christmas break in the Dominican Republic delivering the more than seven boxes of vitamins and supplies collected by USJ's National Spanish Honor Society.

"I volunteer because I learn so much from it," said Abbey. "I don't do it for the hours, I do it because I enjoy it. Some may think I am giving to the community when I volunteer, but the community also gives something back to me."

Community service at USJ spans across all campuses, with opportunities beginning at the Jr. Cubs level. To help the littlest Bruins learn to help others, Jr. Cubs classes organized a newspaper collection drive for the Jackson-Madison County Humane Shelter when the organization expressed that need.

This project joins a robust list of projects in which Lower School students participate. The Fifth Grade Student Council organized a Lower School food drive to support RIFA's Weekend Backpack program and collected 1,341 pounds of food. The students also spread good cheer to area nursing home residents with holiday caroling and Thanksgiving activities. The campus also participates in Jump Rope for Heart and a bi-annual math-a-thon that benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The volunteer spirit carries over to Middle School students. This past fall's Relay for Life Walk-a-thon raised more than $5,485 and earned their efforts city-wide recognition. Following on the heels of that successful effort, the students collected Christmas toys for the Carl Perkins Child Abuse Center.

When sixth grade student Savannah Street's father was deployed to Africa, the Student Council collected greeting cards to send him well wishes from his USJ family back home. "He was so surprised and thrilled to receive such a special treat from home," said Savannah's mom, Marie. "He showed them to everyone and rotates them on his wall."

By the time students enter Upper School, volunteering takes on a new level as students are required to perform a minimum of 50 hours of community service over their high school careers. Some hours are gained through class or campus-wide activities, such as class-sponsored toy drives for St. Jude's or donations for the Wo/Men's Resource and Rape Assistance Program.
Other activities are student-organization driven. The International Club, for example, painted murals in downtown Jackson. The Operation Smile Club sold t-shirts to raise money for a child in Africa. (Every Upper School organization is required to have a service project.)

Some projects are more personal. The senior class organized a "Pots for Pots" sale to help a classmate who was being treated at St. Jude's. Junior Trevor McGee organized a Coats for Kids drive to benefit needy children at Parsons Elementary School where he went to elementary school. He collected 58 coats.

At times, the efforts of students gain the attention of the organizations for which they serve. Chirag Odhav, a senior who has logged more than 550 community service hours in his high school career, has been nominated for a Jefferson Award for Public Service and also received the 2010 Governor's Volunteer Stars award. The Jackson Area Chapter of the American Red Cross nominated Chirag for the award for the more than 300 hours he has volunteered for the organization in two years. Chirag, an Eagle Scout, also has received letters of recognition from city and county mayors, congressmen, the governor, and even President Bush.

Junior Anthony Spates, who has nearly 300 community hours, sees how volunteering can affect the volunteer. "The best thing a person can donate is his or her time," said Spates. "Community service teaches leadership and builds character and skills that are needed throughout your life. If every student volunteered in his or her own community, unlimited changes could be made, not just in the student's life, but across the community. Volunteering benefits all involved."

 

Students travel to Dominican Republic to deliver needed supplies and goodwill

Abbey Orr with children from the orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

Austin Orr, Abbey Orr, Olivia Hughes, and Charlie Hughes show some of the vitamins and other supplies they collected from USJ families for their mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

Conner Adkins, Lindsay Smith, Connor Simmons, Olivia Baker, and LaCiere Bass with toys collected for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Over Christmas break 2010, four USJ Upper School students played 'Santa' to some needy orphans in the Dominican Republic as they delivered much needed supplies their 'elves at USJ' had provided. Freshmen Charlie Hughes and Austin Orr, along with their sisters, junior Olivia Hughes and senior Abbey Orr went with their church, West Jackson Baptist, on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic.  The main focus of the trip was to take Christmas presents and supplies and do any type of manual work on improvements to Jackie's House, an orphanage that houses 27 children. The team would also deliver groceries to the poor families of the sugarcane villages. 

The team was responsible for gathering its own supplies and the students turned to their classmates for help. Senor Jimmy Glosson, USJ Spanish teacher and sponsor of the National Spanish Honor Society, coordinated efforts with Abbey, who is president of the National Spanish Honor Society, to do a service project for this mission trip. An angel Christmas tree was put in the foyer of the Upper School and on each angel was listed five items that the orphanage needed (i.e. vitamins, Neosporin, toothbrushes, toothpaste, Tylenol).  All three USJ Upper School Spanish teachers (Jimmy Glosson, Michelle Steen, and Nice Crockett) encouraged their students to participate. The response was overwhelming, netting more than 7 boxes of supplies for the trip. Making the delivery more special for the students was that when the items were presented to the missionaries, they indicated that they had been praying for over a month to receive some of the items, especially the vitamins since lots of the local people that they minister to are malnourished. 
 
Abbey and Olivia served as interpreters for the team and all four USJ students communicated with the Dominicans, as none of the adults on the trip spoke Spanish. Abbey even read the Christmas story from the Bible in Spanish to the orphans while the other children acted it out. 

 

2010 Fall Projects

The Lower School once again collected items for RIFA's Weekend Backpack Program for children who have little or nothing to eat during the weekends when they are not at school. The donation of 1,341 pounds of food was accepted on behalf of the 324 children in our area that this program supports. 

The Middle School had a Relay for Life Walk-a-thon in the early Fall that raised $5,485.49.

The 6th Grade Student Council sponsored an effort to make Christmas greeting cards for one of the 6th grade fathers who was recently deployed to Africa. His wife said that he "was thrilled with the cards. He is rotating them all on his wall. He has shown them to everyone."

The Fifth Grade Student Council traveled to Alexandria Place Assisted Living in November to make Thanksgiving placemats with the residents. In December, the group traveled to the Bells Nursing Home and sang Christmas carols for the residents.

The Middle School Student Council collected more than 200 toys for the Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

Sophomore class officers organized a toy drive to benefit St. Jude. The students accepted toys and money to be donated to St. Jude's Toy Store. Through their efforts more than 400 toys were collected. Representatives at St. Jude reported that this has been a difficult year for their  "toy store," which made the students' efforts even more meaningful.