NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Prairie Hills Middle School students are getting the chance to volunteer and make their school better.
"It's the second year we've done it and we've started it up just in the last week or two," said Buhler USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman. "What they do is the students get to sign up for various jobs around the Prairie Hills Middle School. And in fact, there are 144 students who are interested in these jobs and it's volunteer time. Let's make sure that we understand that we're not paying them to do it, but there are three different sessions throughout the year and 144 kids are interested in helping out around Prairie Hills Middle School. And the jobs vary from celebrating birthdays and birthdays of the students by decorating their lockers. They help with the athletic director, setting up for events. They are library aides, teacher aides. They help with traffic control before school and after school. There's greeters in the morning. There's lunchroom leaders. There are bulletin board designers. There's pledge leaders and window washing and happy helpers and math tutors. It just goes on and on. In fact, I think there are 20 job opportunities that these 144 students are participating in."
This gives them a chance to learn skills they might not otherwise in the regular classroom.
"We're very thankful for Mrs. Abby Thompson, who's the middle school principal, and Mrs. Ashley Bunting, who is also a teacher there that helps lead these, and between Mrs. Bunting and Mrs. Thompson, that's a lot to organize and they don't get paid for it. They do this on their own time after school to give these students the soft skills. So many students don't have the opportunity to have jobs anymore."
You can follow their progress at the Prairie Hills Middle School Facebook page.