Service with a Smile

Hello again! So sorry for the tardiness of this blog! Our goal was to update twice every day, but we've been busy bees around here today. It's day 3, which means one thing: Service Projects!

We started bright and early once again with an energizer led by Ryan, and then heard from Laura Faulkwin of the Urban Servant Corps and Becca Winship of the Border Servant Corps, who introduced the students to the idea of living a lifestyle of service, as opposed to simply engaging in "volunteerism."

Afterwards, we had a series of breakout sessions designed to explore a few of the most pressing issues facing the Front Range Community and Colorado as a whole. We heard from speakers from The Colorado Aids Project, The Polaris Project, and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. Our hope is that each student felt a connection to at least one of the issues that these organizations speak to, and that all of them have a better understanding of each of them.

Finally, after lunch we headed out for the main event: The service projects. Instead of spending the afternoon with their color group, students were divided according to their school team, with several schools teaming up on the larger projects. We went out en masse to work with a variety of organizations, including World Vison, Rainbow Bridge, The Delores Project, Urban Peak and The Colorado AIDS Project.

All in all, IGNITE students provided over 600 man hours of service today. It was an amazing experience, and based on what we're hearing from the students - their favorite part of Academy so far.

That's bound to change though, given that tonight is when we finally introduce the students to Geeks versus Greeks, a longstanding and beloved Leader's Challenge tradition. It promises to be a very great night indeed.

Please keep checking back, as we hope to post some pictures from our service sites later this evening.

Before I go, one final thing: Tune into Channel 2 News at 9 this evening, as I think they'll be doing a segment on The Day of Service, complete with an interview with at least one of our students. Cool, huh!?