By Faith Griffin, Michael Terry, and Erika Williams
Brevard High School is full of compassionate, hardworking people. Two classes in particular have been adamantly working behind the scenes of Brevard High School and have volunteered with other organizations to help improve the community. Sara Seagraves and Sarah Kipp-Carson have, with their special education classes, collaborated on several volunteer opportunities this school year. Some of these activities include working with senior citizens at The Brian Center, taking care of animals at The Forever Farm, and helping to clean up the town. However, outside of school is not the only place that they carry out helpful volunteer work.
In the fall semester of 2012, Sara Seagraves invested in being able to give her students the privilege of working with senior citizens at The Brian Center. “[The students] go there to work with the residents. It builds their relationship with [the patients] and teaches the students important social skills,” says Seagraves. “Even sometimes when it’s nice out, we will walk there. This also helps them to understand many safety rules and be able to witness things for themselves”.
Amber Fields, a student in Seagraves’ class, said that her favorite part of volunteering is getting to know the residents of The Brian Center.
This spring semester, Seagraves and George Sutherland, a volunteer at the high school, collaborated to give the students volunteer opportunities at The Forever Farm, which is an organization that takes care of sick or abandoned animals. There, the students feed and groom some of the animals. Seagraves and Kipp-Carson shared that this is a great way for the students to “learn the ways of life.”
“It teaches them the importance of taking care of something that can’t take care of itself,” said Kipp-Carson.
To teach her students what it means to be responsible, Seagraves leads her class in community service projects such as, picking up trash around Brevard as well as other beautification projects. A student of Kipp-Carson and Seagrave’s, John Golden, explains,
“I really enjoy doing things for people and making them happy. It doesn’t matter what the job is, as long as it’s for the community and yourself.” He was inspired by his grandfather to carry out volunteerism. “I help people and the community because it’s what my grandpa did, and I want to be just like him.”
Aside from the many projects Seagraves and Kipp-Carson’s classes take on in the community, they also help out around the school. Seagraves’ students clean the cafeteria every day after lunch, and both classes hold musical and theatrical performances for other students. For the fall semester, BHS music and chorus teacher Mary Beth Shumate, worked with these students to learn a variety of instruments and to put on performances. Shumate says that her favorite aspect of working with them is the joy she receives when she sees the happiness on their faces, and how every project they set their minds to always has amazing results.
In addition to these projects, every Friday, Kipp-Carson’s class goes to every room in the school and collects recycled paper. After this, they travel to the recycling plant in Pisgah Forest to deliver the collected recyclables for reuse.
Though it is rarely acknowledged, Sarah Kipp-Carson and Sara Seagraves classes greatly contribute to the functions of Brevard High School and the community.