Juniors serve at multiple Bay Area volunteering centers

The Media Arts Program (MAP) juniors took a two-day field trip on Nov 1. and 3 to four different volunteer organizations in preparation for their upcoming documentary projects, which revolve around modern social issues.

Students, based on their enrollments in either College Prep or Honors English classes, volunteered with the Sacred Heart, Salvation Army, Loaves & Fishes and City Team organizations. During the 2-hour community service time, students helped centers prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

MAP US History and World Geography teacher Matt Torrens put together the event for the junior class as an effective way to relate history class to modern-day events.

“Instead of just reading about the 19th-century reformers, we decided to go out to the community and do some service to see how modern-day reformers interact with society,” Torrens said.

Chris Auches, along with nine other juniors, helped out Salvation Army by writing the gift tags that are hung on their Christmas trees in various malls. There, gift tags are plucked off by shoppers with various requests for gifts and are bought for children in need.

“It was nice knowing we were making a difference and contributing to a great Christmas cause for kids who don't have much,” Auches said.

Over at Sacred Heart, a group worked in the clothes closet, where they sorted through donation bins and threw away clothes in poor condition.

Junior Leilee Naderi, one of the Sacred Heart volunteers, got to interact with the people she was helping out, rather than just dropping off clothes or donating money.

“Every so often, we would take the hung-up clothes and put them on the floor, where people in need of clothes were actively walking through and picking out what they liked,” Naderi said. “It was amazing to directly see the impact of our work and how it helped those in need.”