Greenwood students step up to help

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - As it gets colder outside, students at Greenwood High School move closer to carrying on an important tradition.

Each year, students from two classes — "Service Learning" and "Peer Facilitation" — come together to plan, promote, and pull off a Winterization Day; they visit the homes of local senior citizens and handle some seasonal chores. The work ranges from installing storm windows to cleaning out gutters to raking leaves.

This is the 20th year for the project. It started with 16 students; now 200 participate.

"We like to call it organized chaos," says Laura Gennrich, one of the two teachers who advise the group. "But what it truly is is kids helping community members prepare for the winter."

Early in the planning process, students join one of seven groups. Those groups do everything from designing T-shirts for fundraising to assessing the needs of each homeowner to securing food for all the volunteers. There's even a group that manages for the rest.

The teachers who advise the group say they try not to intervene too often, because they want it to truly be student-run.

"To let them do it and to not micromanage it,” explains Sue Gahlert, who also advises the students. "Because they can do it and they do it well. And when they make mistakes, they have to learn from them. Those are adult skills that we learn, too."

The teams meet once a week as part of their class work. Students are quick to point out that the winterization effort is not a way to get out of school work.

Ethan Bailey, a senior, says, "It doesn't take me out of any classes. We work with it in class and it's done on a weekend, so it doesn't take out any of my class time."

There is special significance to this year's event: the fact that it's been going on for exactly one generation.

Student Kaitlin Ashby says, "I mean that's crazy. I haven't even been alive for 20 years."

To mark the occasion, planners would like to invite alumni who helped with winterization when they were in school to come back for this year's event. They can serve as chaperones, pitch in on the actual chores, or donate supplies or food.

If you are a Greenwood alumnus who was part of the project in your time at the school, call 317-889-4000.