Last Saturday, Tabor students enjoyed their Spring Morning of Service for their last Saturday School Day of the year. And yes, it was a School Day. Some of the best lessons are often learned by doing, and that is just what the students had the chance to do.
The students were assigned plenty of tasks by organizations across the Southcoast and right here in Marion such as: weeding, raking, painting, constructing things from walkways to boat cranes, trash pick-up, planting, baking, and even providing patient advice to non-tech natives.
“The tasks are one thing to learn, but it is also what is beyond the tasks that perhaps provides even broader learning,” said Kerry Saltonstall, Director of Communications. “Today our students learned about the value and dedication of volunteers, many of them retirees well into their late 70s – early 80s, who worked hard alongside our students as they showed them how to take care of our town parks and church yards and shared their passions with them.”
If they were listening, the students heard about the mission of some of the organizations they worked for. The Church of the Good Shepherd, the students learned, provides a weekly meal to area residents in need of a healthy meal and some fellowship as they baked dinner rolls and cookies to augment their table. The Sippican Lands Trust and the Marion Recreation Department shared their goals of opening more open space access for people to enjoy the harbor and the woodlands around Marion. Our students participated in those goals by building a 300-foot boardwalk to a local beach, constructing a boat crane, and prepping two Bullseye sailboats for launch for the new Community Boating program in Marion. Maybe some of the students thought about what service, skill, idea, or time they could offer to start a new community project in their own towns.
“Many thanks to our many teachers and sponsors throughout the Town of Marion and in the surrounding towns of the Southcoast. All of us at Tabor appreciate all you do to improve our communities and to provide such excellent examples of citizenship and leadership to our students,” shared Saltonstall.