From fixing cars and painting sheds to planting flowers and cleaning windows, more than 300 Calhoun County high school students took on a wide variety of volunteer projects on May 17.

The students, from 10 different schools and organizations, gathered at Full Blast for our 11th Annual Youth Day of Caring before deploying to 19 different community agencies.

“We look forward every year to this event,” said Jamie Rugg, Director of Engagement at United Way. “It’s a great way to give the students a strong foundation in volunteerism and set them up for a lifetime of giving back to the community.”

Many of the students went out in small groups of five or 10. The largest group – more than 70 students – was bused to Leila Arboretum, where projects included painting a building, gardening, and landscaping. One mechanically inclined student, Pharoah Clark, was able to use his skills to determine why a van on property wasn’t running. He planned to return later with tools to make the repairs.

Across town at Heritage Assisted Living, Harper Creek teacher Tiffini Hurley and five volunteers from Battle Creek Central and Lakeview high schools planted flowers and connected with residents. They took direction from one resident in particular, who spent the morning teaching the kids about gardening and telling jokes, Hurley said.

“I think a lot of the kids forget that older people have personalities, and they are people who have gone through all of these experiences,” Hurley said. “After the gardening, we really just got to sit down and play games with them and talk to them about their lives. It was really great to see some of the commonalities they had, but also that they could talk about their differences.

“I think they were really excited and kind of surprised at how much fun they had.”

Other projects included landscaping and weeding at the Humane Society of South Central Michigan, bagging green beans at the Food Bank of South Central Michigan, cleaning the interior of Kingman Museum and outdoor work at Binder Park Zoo.

After a morning of volunteering, students gathered again for lunch and to share their experiences with each other.

“I think volunteering is about really finding a place where you can give back in the way that feels meaningful to you,” Hurley said.