Student Voice: Spring Fling
Spring is here and we are in the final stretch of the school year. As we get closer to summer, the students of Rivendell Academy have Spring Fling to look forward to, or I at least think they look forward to it. Spring Fling usually entails school-wide community service in the morning.
In previous years, the community service has been a way for the students to donate their time to clean up the school, making it a nicer environment to work in. Some of these tasks might be things like putting down new mulch in flower beds or trimming overgrown trees and bushes. After community service, the school usually has a barbecue in the afternoon. The barbecue has a ton of activities such as volleyball, a slip and slide, and potentially a dunk tank. As being a member of the National Honor Society, we’ve had meetings to sort of create an agenda for Spring Fling. A popular idea was that the school participates in community service but on a larger scale.
The community service will most likely entail cleaning up and doing yard work for organizations in the local area such as churches, libraries, post offices, and schools. Because Spring Fling is an event for the students, I thought I would ask students about what they think of Spring Fling. As I expected, doing acts of community service was not popular with the students. One student said that it just isn't that enjoyable and another said that there isn’t even enough work for everyone to do. A goal for the NHS is to make sure there is enough work for everyone to do during Spring Fling, which is why we are trying to branch out to other organizations in the area.
A few other students said that Spring Fling was just a weird day. I kind of agree with this because the day is supposed to be designed to be an enjoyable and productive day to wrap up the year, but I think the combination of activities and too much structure makes the day’s flow quite inconsistent. Perhaps the NHS should focus on doing more activities at the school vs. around the area, to make the day more fun. Less structure in most activities could perhaps make the day more relaxing and enjoyable for the students.
To sum things up, Spring Fling should be a day where the students have an enjoyable time with each other. Perhaps focusing on doing school-wide activities that aren’t necessarily focused on community service could be a solution. With that being said, I hope that Spring Fling is a good time!
