Riverside seventh-graders (L-R) Brooklynn Phoebe Donn, Kingston Newell, and Isabel Magnus deliver money and food donations to The Lyndon Food Shelf.

During the third quarter of the academic year, Riverside middle school math teacher Caroline Thompson taught a 7th-grade service class and led a middle school service elective. Students were able to work on different projects based on their own ideas and passions. Two students who were interested in helping the environment worked on an environmental service project by making envelopes with pollinator friendly seeds that you can put right in the ground, some students chose to spread kindness by painting rocks with messages of kindness to be placed around town, other students worked on blankets for the pediatric ICU at Dartmouth Hitchcock. The whole class worked to raise money for the Lyndon Food Shelf by selling hot chocolate to teachers and fellow students during the school day over the last several weeks. The hot chocolate sales were a great success, raising over $200 which they delivered (pictured), along with food donations to the Food Shelf during their final class meeting.

Thompson stated, “I was inspired by this class- each student had a different idea connected to their own passions. Service is very important to me and service learning is a big part of that. Instilling the ethic of service in students at such a young age helps them take ownership of something important that will grow with them for the rest of their lives.” Head of School Roy Starling noted that, “Service is a way of life for Caroline, from her work with kids to her time and energy with Faith’s Closet, she inspires all of us to think about what we can do for the people around us.”

In the service elective this quarter, students worked on an American Cancer Society walk to take place on The Riverside campus. The “Riverside Versus Cancer” walk will be held on Friday, May 13th  from 12:00-2:30 in the afternoon in honor of long-term art teacher Suzanne Tanner, anyone who has ever had cancer, and caregivers.  There will be student-made stations focusing on importance of physical activity, sun safety, nutritional choices, danger of tobacco use.