Senior students showcase service projects

The Wrangell High School class of 2019 set up shop in the gym the afternoon of Tuesday, May 7, to give presentations on their community service projects. The projects are a requirement for graduation, according to Principal David Macri, worth about half a credit. The senior students, individually or in small groups, are supposed to spend at least 20 hours on a project or series of projects that help the wider community. Afterwards, they then put together a poster board reporting on what they did, why, and how it affected the community.

"I see this as a very valuable program and we need to develop it a little bit more, quite a bit more, actually," Macri said. "This is part of their graduation requirements ... Most of them choose one specific task, a few of them will do two or three things but combine the hours."

There were 10 booths set up around the high school gym for family members, friends, and judges to come by and see what the seniors have been working on.

Some of the projects were designed to help the school itself, such as Anthony Messenger's project of scraping gum out from under the high school's tables.

Jean-Luc Lewis, senior student, organized an ACT prep course for his project. He said it was a good learning experience, both for himself as the teacher and for those taking the preparatory class. They all went over the four sections of the ACT test, English, math, reading, and science. The class reviewed each section, the kinds of questions to look for and how best to study for them, and took numerous practice tests. After becoming comfortable enough in one section, Lewis said, they would move on to the next section and dive into it.

"The ACT is the standardized test that is used by many colleges to test academic ability," Lewis said. "I thought that since it's such a big test and it's so broad, and so many colleges use it, I thought it was important to have a class so students could get those test scores that will help them get scholarships in college. It's just an overall important test that I felt students didn't have good access to studying so I wanted to give them that opportunity."

Other projects were related to the great outdoors. Senior Elizabeth Johnson used her service project to assist researcher Joshua Ream on his research on amphibians around the Stikine River area, which the Sentinel has written a previous story on.

Senior Jacob Hammer assisted the Forest Service by helping design and laser engrave wooden covers for their cabin log books.

"From getting the cabin names to putting the names in the rhino program, which is what we use for the laser, to be able to laser engrave it ... I estimate about 13 hours, probably," he said.

Several projects were revolved around sports. Senior student Stone Guggenbickler helped the Wrangell Elks Lodge organize their annual Hoop Shoot. The Hoop Shoot is an annual program held by the Elks, where kids can compete in a free throw contest. The winners of the local contest are given the opportunity to compete in a regional Hoop Shoot, followed by the national competition that took place in Chicago, last April. Wrangell's Hoop Shoot saw

almost 50 participants this year.

Seniors Kellan Eagle and Riley Blatchley teamed up and coached a youth basketball team for the Wrangell parks and recreation department for their project. They said that they chose coaching as their project because of all the fond memories they had playing basketball. Blatchley said he has played basketball since third grade, and he wanted to give other kids a similar opportunity. Eagle said basketball has taught him a lot beyond the areas of physical fitness, and it was something he wanted to help pass on. While their team did not win as many games as they would have liked, they both said it was a great experience and a lot of fun. They estimated they put between 25 to 30 hours into their project.

"I remember Kenny Wilson was my first coach in second grade. I just learned a lot from him," Eagle said. "It was nice, it was a lot of fun to coach them, too. They're very good kids."

The following is a complete list of the senior students and their volunteer projects: Ashley and Helen Decker - Stikine Middle School volleyball. Abby Armstrong and Abbi Gerald - Cardboard box maze. Alicia Bales, Ashtyn Hayes, and Morgen Torvend - Christmas Tree Lane. Riley Blatchley and Kellan Eagle - Youth basketball. Stone Guggenbickler - Elks Hoop Shoot. Jacob Hammer - Cabin log book project. Anthony Messenger - Scraping gum off tables. Elizabeth Johnson - Amphibian research. Jean-Luc Lewis - ACT prep course. Dillon Rooney - Wolfpack wrestling.