Hillcrest Speech Pathologist Lauren Diamond and Fifth Grade Teacher Brittany Cerny collaborated this year to start a new school club: the Hillcrest Service Club. During the club’s first meeting, students brainstormed how they wanted to help the community this school year. Every week since then, the group has embarked on a new project!
“We started this club this year to do a bunch of different service projects around the community and our school!” said Lauren Diamond, Hillcrest speech pathologist and club co-sponsor. “So far this year we have helped our janitor and teachers by completing cleaning and organizing projects around the school, raked leaves for a nearby church, read stories at an adult day center, made treat bags for the DG police department, and even raised over $1,600 for Operation Care Package through a student run initiative called ‘Donut Forget Our Troops!’ where classes competed to raise money to earn donut treats!”
During their most recent meeting, we interviewed the kids to learn about their favorite service projects:
| Student Interviews | |
|---|---|
 “I liked the leaf-picking project because I like helping others.”
– Lily, fourth grade |
 “I liked the Warm Fuzzies best too because we could make things and give them to other people and say nice things to them.”
– Nell, third grade |
|
“The Donut Forget Our Troops project was the most fun!” – Adela, fourth grade |
 “I liked picking weeds at the church because I like doing things for people who need help.”
– Kate, fifth grade |
 “I like writing letters to the troops.”
– Lily, fourth grade |
 “My favorite was cleaning up leaves at church. I like getting dirty and muddy and picking up trash!”
– Brenden, third grade
|
 “I enjoyed our Warm Fuzzies project because it got student to give more compliments to each other. I love being nice.”
– Caleigh, third grade |
 “I liked helping teachers around the school. It was fun to walk around and visit different classrooms that I had never seen before.”
– Oliver, third grade |
