By Lee Filas, Daily Herald
Stanton Middle School students spent Friday giving back to a Fox Lake community truly in need of support.
Stanton's Day of Service was a project designed to raise funds for the Fox Lake District 114 Parent Teacher Association, but more importantly, the event gave students an opportunity to serve the community through public service work, said Principal Jeff Sefcik.
He said 285 students were either out in the community or cleaning the school at 101 Hawthorn Lane. He said 145 students were bused to various locations around Fox Lake to help clean, while the remaining 140 remained at school and did work on school grounds.
The work students completed included pulling weeds at the Fox Lake police station, cleaning up garbage at Veterans Park, and helping at the Grant Township Food Pantry.
Sefcik said he heard about the day of service at the Illinois Principals Association conference, and saw "no reason we couldn't do it ourselves."
"I talked to people here and we decided we could do it," he said.
The "Day of Service" project is similar to a walk-a-thon, but instead of students collecting pledges to walk, students collected pledges from sponsors for their involvement in a service project within the community, said project leader Jill Becmer.
"We organized a number of various projects, including work at the Fox Lake police and fire departments, the Grant Township Food Pantry, Fox Lake Library, Camp Duncan and Camp Henry Horner."
She said students will complete a Fox Lake mural at Stanton School, then perform various duties at the American Legion, Paradise Park and Veterans Park.
In addition to the service projects, students who collected at least $200 in pledges will travel to Chicago to participate in an additional community service opportunity.
Students raised $16,000 for the PTA through the day of service, Sefcik said. The initial goal was $10,000.
"I'm happy because I'm helping out in the community and respecting the community," said 7th grader Taylor Goebel. "Its nice to help make our community look presentable."
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