Clark-Pleasant Academy students made a mark Friday that will long surpass their time at the school.
Lucas Rawlings, Dylan Kramer and Jacob Struckman, all seniors, capped off their years worth of volunteer work at the Academy by planting three pine trees in front of the school, one to represent each of the students.
The academy is a partner of Clark-Pleasant schools, and helps students who can’t attend school during regular hours or who have fallen behind academically with credit recovery, community service work and job skills, said Lesleigh Groce, the academy’s student services coordinator.
“They get elective credit for doing the community service and it helps them with the employability skills piece of graduation,” Groce said. “Everything we do, job skills, things we teach them and elective classes they take, are getting them ready for life after school and getting them ready to be adults.”
Most years, students run a food pantry and distribute clothing to low-income families and individuals, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, students have had to temporarily put off volunteer work that relies heavily on interaction and get creative, she said.
This school year, students have worked with Changing Footprints, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that provides footwear to people who can’t afford it, by cleaning shoes and matching them. Students have also worked with I Support the Girls, another Indianapolis nonprofit that helps girls and women by boxing tampons, pads, bras and underwear. And they have collected dog food and made pet beds for the Humane Society of Johnson County, Groce said.
The work not only helps students get closer to graduation, it helps others, Rawlings said.
“We get community service hours for them, so we can graduate at the end of the day,” Rawlings said. “It’s giving back to the community.”
Rawlings’ fall project involved bringing coffee and posters of appreciation to the Clark-Pleasant Police Department, he said.
The trees planted Friday create a lasting legacy of giving back, Kramer said.
“Trees are important,” Kramer said. “We have lots of chances to help the community. We shoveled people’s driveways even though COVID has made things more difficult. I think it will be cool to come back here in five or 10 years and see a big tree.”
The tree will be a lasting memory of the Class of 2021 trio, Groce said.
“It’s them leaving their mark,” she said. “Every day I turn into this building for however long until I retire, I will see those three boys in those trees.”
