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The word "legacy" last week at The Blake School didn't have anything to do with academic or athletic accomplishments, but rather what students were doing to help others.
Blake held its second Legacy Day - a district-wide event dedicated to community service - Friday, Sept. 28, at its Hopkins campus, 110 Blake Road.
The event brings together students, teachers, faculty and alumni from Blake's three campuses to perform service projects that help people locally and abroad. Students spent the day making fleece blankets to donate to service organizations, packaging food to be distributed worldwide with the help of the Kids Against Hunger organization, and packing lunches for Simpson Housing, a homeless shelter in Minneapolis.
"The whole idea was to build our own sense of community in a purposeful and fun way and help people beyond our doors," said Marc Bogursky, chairman of Legacy Day and director of Blake's Upper Campus.
Legacy Day is tied in with Blake's annual convocation, which was held Friday morning at the school's Aamoth Stadium. The convocation ceremony included a speech from Nan Peterson, Blake's director of service learning, about her travels to Kenya, as well as a performance by Karibuni, an East African music ensemble.
Three years ago, Blake's staff discussed ways to make the annual convocation into more of a bond-forming experience for the students. The staff added Legacy Day for the first time last year, and it was a resounding success, Bogursky said. So they decided to make it an annual event.
"When you put older and younger kids together with something purposeful to do, great things happen," he said. "It's magical."
All of Blake's 1,380 students participated in Legacy Day. They were split into groups consisting of age groups four years apart. The groups remain the same from year to year, so students are able form connections with the same peers. Also, alumni are invited to participate with their groups after they've graduated.
Starting this year, each group created a reflection book, which will be handed down from each year to create a record of the various service activities.
"It's fun because you get to be with the younger kids and get to know them more," said Jack Mortell, a ninth-grader at the Upper Campus, as he packaged food with his group inside the school's ice rink.
Brita Hunegs, a fifth-grader at the Blake Lower Campus, agreed with him. "I like knowing that you're helping somebody," she said. "Other people don't have as much as we do (in America). To give something that means a lot to them feels really good."
Participating in the Legacy Day service projects helps spur community service among students throughout the year as well, said eighth-grade social studies teacher Raina Green.
"They are doing something tangible that helps out others," she said. "They are also making connections with their buddies."
Though last week was only the second Legacy Day for Blake, Bogursky is confident it will be a long-running event for the district.
"This is now well-established," he said. "People look forward to this."
"We're known for our traditions and we would like this to be one of those," said Tracy Grimm, public relations manager for the district.
Reprinted with permission from Sun Newspapers
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