MANSFIELD — Discovery School students have recently been taking action to benefit the community of Mansfield and to try to make the world a better place, head of school Julie Schwartz said.
“If we want children to make a difference in the world we need to help them personalize the action they take, and understand that it is not a mandate from their teachers or parents, but a life long mindset they develop,” Schwartz said. “This is a pillar of the International Baccalaureate Programme at Discovery School.”
This week, Discovery’s third-grade students decided to pick-up trash in the Discovery School woods.
“The woods are such an important part of our school campus. Students are out there everyday exploring and learning in our 40 acres of old growth forest,” Schwartz said. :This week, in addition to their boots, they put on their rubber gloves and collected any litter they could find.”
Inspired by those students, a group of about 15 parent and staff volunteers stayed after school on Friday afternoon to clear all the litter from the front of the school’s property along Millsboro Road. More than 20 large trash bags were filled.
Many passersby honked and waved in enthusiastic approval.
Less than two weeks ago, second-grader Jesse Swindle organized a school-wide drive to collect hygiene products. He had been inquiring into the needs of local people living in poverty and decided to partner with the organization “People Helping People of North Central Ohio” to distribute the products he collected.
This project came about during the school’s “Genius Hour” time. This is a two-hour time block each week where Discovery students inquire into a topic of their choosing and design a project around it.
Over the course of the drive, Discovery families sent in items and placed them in collection boxes around the school. In total, Jesse collected more than 40 shampoos, 63 brushes/combs, 105 bars of soap, 93 deodorant, 53 razors, 39 shaving cream, 83 hand sanitizers, 75 toothbrush & toothpastes, 47 floss, 22 baby items, 65 feminine care items, and over 1,000 masks.
Jesse, his mom, his second-grade teacher (Tabytha Sidders), and the IB Coordinator (Simon Clark) helped to distribute the items in downtown Mansfield.
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Mrs. Julie Schwartz
