As a part of the compassion and action focus of the fourth day of Not In Our Schools week, Palo Alto High School will host its fourth annual student service day from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday.
Activities for the service day will be held both off and on-campus for students. Some students will be dismissed from school for the day to work on off-campus projects, and others will be able to contribute to their community just the same through a variety of on-campus activities.
There are a variety of ways the students can help for the off-campus service. The activities range from going to Acterra to clean up the Bay Trail to going to Sunrise Assisted Living to spend time with the senior citizens, according to freshman and Service Day Committee member Candace Wang.
On the campus, there will be different activities available to the students. During lunch, there will be booths out on the Quad, and different school clubs will have awareness talks and side service projects going on throughout the day. Habitat for Humanity is also coming to Paly to guide students in building playhouses, according to Wang.
“There are a lot of clubs [participating], and what we [Service Day Committee] want them to do is set up booths to talk about either awareness or about projects they can or are doing to help with service and volunteering,” Wang said.
There will be a service day breakfast and a speech by Principal Kim Diorio at 7:45 a.m. for students taking part in service day. Students going off-campus will meet on the Quad by 8 a.m. and should leave campus by 8:30 a.m.
In recent years, Paly Service day has had positive turnouts, but mainly for its off-campus activities.This year, the Service Day Committee is trying to get more clubs and students active at the school to make people aware, according to Wang.
“Service day is a great way to try and get the whole school to give back to the community, to donate and to volunteer,” Wang said. “All of this is just to bring light to what we have and how much we are able to do if we just put our heads together.”