While core classes teach students foundational knowledge, various service-oriented programs and extracurriculars provide students the chance to develop additional skills and confidence while making connections within the community.
Passion in action
DSHS Interact Club
Dublin City Schools’ high schools all have staple service and leadership clubs, such as Key Club, Interact Club and National Honor Society, as well as unique groups that support more specific causes such as animal welfare, international relief, cancer research and more.
“What’s made a lot of these clubs special is it begins and ends with the kids and their passion for truly giving back,” says John Witt, a Dublin Scioto High School social studies teacher and club advisor for Interact Club and Purple Star Club.
Witt says he encourages students to take ownership of their clubs. He also says the clubs offer a foundation for belongingness, and they strengthen the school’s culture of giving back.
“These young people come from every possible background you could imagine, but the one thing they share in common is they have a spirit for helping others, and it is so inspiring,” Witt says.
Shaped by service
Anna Norfleet
Purple Star Club leaders Anna Norfleet, Zoe Lefferts and Maya Falco with advisor John Witt
For students such as Anna Norfleet, a Scioto senior and a Purple Star Club leader, engaging in service offers much personal satisfaction.
“The feelings that it brings to you and other people when you’re getting involved in service is something that you can’t just feel every other day,” she says. “Every time you (are involved), it’s never something that you regret, ever.”
The Purple Star Club, for example, recognizes and honors veterans through projects, activities and events such as the Veteran’s Experience, Military Appreciation Nights at sporting events, and social gatherings.
Norfleet, who’s participated in the club since sophomore year, says veterans’ reactions to recognition are deeply moving.
“It makes me emotional... because we know that we’re making a difference in their lives and all the work that we’re doing actually means more than words can even describe to them,” she says.
She also says the Purple Star Club has taught her leadership skills as well as influenced her to participate in ROTC in college. She encourages other students to participate in service, for both the skills and experiences it offers.
“I think it’s really important, especially in high school. Joining clubs and doing service can really shape your life and especially for the better,” Norfleet says. “(Doing service) can give you those qualities that a lot of people don’t have just from taking regular classes.”
Lasting connections
DSHS Purple Star Club
In addition to skill development, the clubs offer networking and community partnership opportunities.
The Dublin A.M. Rotary, for example, sponsors Dublin City Schools’ Interact Clubs, allowing students to attend events and support local organizations, such as the Dublin Food Pantry and One Dublin. The Rotary also has a network of veterans that Purple Star leaders have connected with, allowing them to share their work on a larger scale.
Witt says the Interact and Purple Star clubs have partnered with many other organizations such as the Dublin Historical Society, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters, the Byron Saunders Foundation, American Red Cross, the local American Legion, the National Veterans Memorial and Museum and Cardinal Health.
DSHS Purple Star Club
“I think the greatest testimony in terms of what the students do is that the support is not one and done... There are not many places I go anymore when I’m around town in Dublin where I don’t run into someone who’s supporting the kids or impacted by them,” he says.
Witt says he’s also consistently amazed by the impact that service opportunities have on students past and present, with many former students continuing to give back to the community.
“It’s not as if I couldn’t have figured out that it was going to have an impact on these kids 20 some years ago,” he says. “I just never realized just how deep that impact would be and how much that impact has carried them along (and) continues to be their journey in life.”
Weslynn Biggers
Amanda Stevens is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at astevens@cityscenemediagroup.com.
