BE students learn lessons during ‘Day of Service’

On Aug. 16, Bishop England High School on Daniel Island began a new school year. It didn’t look like a typical first day, however. 

 

Students traded their crisp uniforms and sharpened pencils for sweatpants, work gloves, and paint brushes to give a “Day of Service” to their neighborhood. They joined their homeroom teachers outside of the classroom to participate in the school’s new tradition: to serve others as the first lesson learned.  

 

Betsy McMillan, a social studies teacher, and English teacher Matt Perry coordinated the event. While the freshmen engaged in a retreat coupled with a service project on campus, grades 10, 11 and 12 boarded buses and scattered throughout the Lowcountry to work with 20 local charities. The entire sophomore class worked together cleaning up litter on the beach. The junior and senior classes worked on home repairs, landscaping, cleaning and special projects requested by various charities.  

 

Meghan Boyer, director of communications, said, “The Day of Service serves not only our community but helps students see that ‘serving their neighbor’ is an integral part of our Catholic mission.” 

 

The program, now in its second year, has been expanded to assist more nonprofit groups in Charleston. Students helped at Mepkin Abbey, East Cooper Faith Network, Habitat for Humanity, Camp Happy Days, Lighthouse Inlet at Folly for Audubon, and several churches. 

 

Looking beyond the walls of the classroom, McMillan commented that everyone benefits by serving on the first day of school. It allows students to “be instruments in Christ’s love, to see and serve Christ in our community, to be grateful for all the ways we have been blessed and cultivate desire to be generous, and to bond in a deeper way as we work selflessly together,” she said. 

 

Lilly Bridges, a senior, spent her day at HomeWorks. She said, “HomeWorks is a Christ-centered organization that helps low-income homeowners maintain the upkeep of their houses. One of our main jobs was to repair the exterior siding of the house and patch up the front porch where the wood had rotted. My classmates and I were able to divide and conquer tasks based on our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to construction.”  

 

Charlie Regalbuto, a student at Bishop England, said, “I went to Windwood Farms, a home for abused and neglected boys. There, I helped a teacher, Mr. Compton, set up his classroom. He was so grateful and it was amazing to see how my effort of just a few hours was so appreciated by someone else. I am actually in communication with the volunteer director to go back on my own and volunteer again soon.” 

 

Sophomore Leslie Wysong went to Stella Maris Church on Sullivan’s Island. “We were split into groups and my group helped clean up a Sunday School house,” she explained. “It was a lot of fun because not only were we helping the church and the students, but I also got to spend some quality time with my classmates.” 

 

“I really liked having the first day of school outside and doing something good for the environment,” noted Emerson Butler, a sophomore. Butler was assigned the task of picking up litter on Folly Beach.  

 

As the coordinator of the project, McMillan hopes students will be inspired to start the year “with our life’s vocation foremost: love God and love our neighbor.”