Vail Christian High School is in the midst of a student-led ‘month of giving’
From bell-ringing to snow-shoveling, many efforts are student-led
Vail Christian High School/courtesy photo
Stewardship is part of the mission at Vail Christian High School. But many of the 158 students at the school are taking that mission to new levels in December.
The school this month is in the midst of “VCHS Gives,” in which the school is asking students to show the appreciation for their gifts by giving back to the community.
Head of School Steve O’Neil said the effort is a bottom-up affair.
“I was watching the student council do an amazing job with the Salvation Army food drive,” O’Neil said, noting that the council surpassed its goal of contributing 1,100 cans of food to the drive.
O’Neil noted that while adults are often pushing the students, it was the students this time who were breaking the goals set for them. Student members of the National Honor Society this year put together a tutoring group for younger students. Other students have helped with the Eagle River Presbyterian Church’s weekly Loaves and Fishes meal effort.
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“We were hearing about things that weren’t even school initiatives,” O’Neil said.
Two students started a volunteer effort to start bell-ringing at Walmart for the Salvation Army.
The giving effort actually started last month through the school’s BIONIC club. That’s an acronym for Believe It Or Not I Care. Club coordinator and school counselor Krista McClinton said the club on Nov. 13 — World Kindness Day — did random acts of kindness that included writing notes to every student at the school.
“It’s just about simple outreach,” McClinton said.
But that outreach extends to virtually every student.
Also in November, school officials started filling in a spreadsheet with 158 names, detailing acts of service each student would like to participate in in December.
“I’ve been blown away by what the students are doing,” O’Neil said. While the school’s mission statement includes “service,” students aren’t required to put in service hours as part of their education at Vail Christian.
“We want it to be an internal choice,” O’Neil said. “We’re so proud of some of those organic things.”
A lot of holiday giving involves putting coins or cash in red kettles or donation boxes, O’Neil noted giving isn’t always about just dollars and cents. His students are finding those other ways to give back, he said.
“It may be time, or acts of service … we’re trying to celebrate that service,” O’Neil added.
Noting that actions often speak louder that words, O’Neil quoted St. Francis of Assisi, who once encouraged people to “Preach the gospel, and sometimes use words.”
