Students seek to help seniors

If you're a senior citizen in need of physical help around your house, or if you know someone who is, now is a great time to speak up. A group of Sisters High School upperclassmen are at the ready, waiting to take your call.

In an undertaking they call "Seniors Helping Seniors," four high school students hope to assist in a variety of practical ways: shoveling snow, yard work, clearing gutters, or heavy lifting.

"We're a bunch of able-bodied people and we want to have an impact on our community," says Natasha Pepperling. Pepperling, along with Bert Isle, Avery Martin and D.J. Vitelle, are working together as a team to meet the school's capstone requirement of the CORE program.

This collaboration is their senior project. First, they networked with local agencies and churches and dropped in on a senior luncheon to confirm there is indeed a need for physical assistance among seniors in the local community. "We're hearing there's a need," says Pepperling. Then the team set a goal for each team member to help at least five people over the coming months.

The acronym C-O-R-E stands for Character, Outreach, Respect and Excellence. Every student, from freshmen to seniors, are required to meet weekly under the new program. Staff advisors are assigned to a group of students, and they continue to track the same students for all four years, in order to foster a sense of togetherness and belonging.

Through CORE, freshmen focus on how to be competent high school students; sophomores are directed to acknowledge the world around them and what it means to be an Outlaw; juniors give back to the school by selecting a project based on their passions. And seniors like Pepperling and her team are instructed to "step out of the school," to demonstrate caring to their community through community service projects, says teacher-advisor Michelle Hammer.

Hammer and five other committee members met over the summer to develop the program, structuring it in building blocks to help students "develop empathy and learn to work together as a team." Principal Joe Hosang made a four-year commitment to the CORE program.

If you or someone you know is in need of physical assistance, Pepperling says she and her team have their sleeves rolled up and all the tools necessary. "Call us. We will be

there."

To schedule service, call Natasha Pepperling at 541-279-9566 or email [email protected]