The Great Oaks Community Changers (GOCC) is a group of elementary students who meet twice per month to work on different service learning projects. These K-5 students are selected by their peers as class representatives, and the work they do goes toward directly impacting their community.
Each month, the GOCC work toward different goals that serve the people in their community. In October, scholars organized a “Socktober” sock drive, collecting socks and donated them locally. Kindergarten Teacher Dana Zuhlke, who helps lead GOCC, said past “Socktober” drives have helped collect uniforms for students who needed one.
This November, the group organized its annual canned food drive to collect resources for the Thanksgiving holiday. Zuhlke said this food usually goes to a family at the school in need or to a local food bank.
“It makes me excited to see them get excited participating in all these projects and getting a chance to see outside themselves,” Zuhlke said, adding that scholars wrote holiday cards to residents at an assisted living facility last year.
The club also works on an important project inside school. GOCC collects recycling bins from around the school each meeting to help do their part for the environment.
Moral Focus virtues tie in directly to what scholars are doing to make a difference in their community. Zuhlke said group leaders have conversations about the month’s Moral Focus virtue at every meeting.
GOCC has been around longer at Great Oaks than Zuhlke, who said she has been in charge of the club for seven years. The group was started when a now-retired teacher was looking for a way to get younger students involved while affecting change. With all of the opportunities older students had, Zuhlke said GOCC was limited to only K-5 students so they could have a unique club to look forward to.
While “Socktober” and a November canned goods drive are staples of the GOCC, scholars have even more work to do and change to make in the winter and spring. Every winter, the group holds a mitten drive, and has collected coins to donate in the spring. With this kind of service from scholars, it should come as no surprise that Great Oaks has outperformed the local district for the past 14 years.
Members of the club gain valuable life experience and often come back with memories of the work they did to make a change.
“I’ve had students come back and say, ‘I really loved GOCC. All of the projects we did made me feel so good.’” Zuhlke said. “I’ve had kids in it multiple years, and just seeing them get to grow and seeing their understanding grow has been amazing.”
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About Great Oaks Academy
Great Oaks Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Warren, Michigan, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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