photo by: Derek Redd

Wheeling Country Day School fifth graders Michael Schneider, left, and Dustin English pick foods from the pantry at The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling to pack for clients to take with them Monday afternoon. The school’s fifth-graders spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day volunteering at the soup kitchen.

School was in session Monday for Wheeling Country Day School students, but the day was spent in service to others for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Students in all grades of the independent school used Monday as a day of service for organizations around the community, living out a notable quote from King: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”

While younger students stayed on campus completing various projects, older WCDS students went out into the community to volunteer.

This is the sixth year the school has coordinated this opportunity for its students.

“I think it’s pretty mission appropriate for Country Day to have a day like this,” said Joe Jividen, WCDS teacher and coordinator for the school’s Learning on Location program. “It’s a great conversation starter for the kids. You get a chance to talk about Dr. King and his legacy of service.”

The school’s fifth-graders visited the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling to serve lunch, fold donated clothes and decorate cookies for Monday’s meal. Sixth-graders went to The House of the Carpenter, while seventh-graders volunteered at The Mother Jones Center for Resilient Community. Eighth-graders were at Elmhurst, the House of Friendship, interviewing residents there for legacy projects, where they asked questions about their lives and careers to put together biographies that they’ll read to the residents later.

The younger students’ projects benefited organizations like local flood relief, The House of the Carpenter and the Ohio County Animal Shelter.

Among the lessons learned Monday, Jividen said, is that even the youngest members of the community have the ability to make an impact.

“A big part of Country Day is that it doesn’t matter how old you are, you have agency in your community and you should use it,” he said.