Megha Lakha, Leighton Maynard, Anna Mefford, Tanesha Naik, Zoe Robinson, Maxine Smith
They played a group game of ultimate frisbee, took a group trip to Walmart, and screamed Taylor Swift on their bus rides.
Although SING has been a nearly thirty-year-long tradition, it is still constantly evolving. This is the first year since Covid that it has returned to being almost “normal.”
“We started planning SING a long time in advance,” said Ms. Turner, the Director of Civic and Global Engagement at Lovett. “Even last October, we were getting feedback from groups who went before to help us tailor and improve the experience for this year's ninth graders,“
It is no surprise that SING required a lot of preparation and planning. Every year ninth grade advisories participate in this two-day service experience. Prior to Covid-19, SING included an overnight stay at a church, but this year there was no sleepover.
SING aims to provide a sense of community and urges students to connect with the larger city. “One of our goals for Lovett students is that they feel connected and engaged to the world around them. We think that by experiencing these things, not just reading about them, that they gain an understanding,” said Ms. Turner.
This year, SING was focused on the Beltline. “We wanted some kind of unifying theme, instead of just sending it out randomly,” Ms. Turner said “We wanted them to focus on an important change that was going on in the city. So as the Beltline is being built, lots of neighborhoods are affected.”
Maxine and Zoe both had a great time helping people. Maxine cut fabric, sorted through children’s closets, and helped out at a food bank. Zoe pulled weeds, tutored kids, and helped out at the food bank as well.
Megha and Zoe, who are in the same advisory, both agree that the foodbank was not what they thought it would be like. They recalled dealing with rice infested with gnats due to the food sitting on the shelf for a long period of time. They also saw other vermin crawling throughout the building.
Maxine went to a different food bank, which she described as a very welcoming and warm space. The people that were volunteering there were very friendly to the people receiving the food. The environment was very clean.
Maxine also visited a business in Decatur that took recycled fabric and made it into bags and clothes. She cut out recycled fabric that will be used to make bags and other things. This experience really showed us how much we can recycle things in our life and how what seem to be just small pieces of trash can turn into something really nice.
Anna Mefford farmed with her advisory. She pulled weeds and planted crops like vegetables. This food would go towards a community. Zoe also tutored a young girl as one of her acts of service. Maxine’s group never actually made it to the Beltline, but in an assembly, we heard from Ryan Gravel, the guy that created the idea for the Beltline.
As a follow-up, freshmen wrote thank-you cards to the people who ran the foundations and sites they visited.
After a long day of service, many advisories enjoyed a group dinner. Everyone had a $15 budget, which was plenty. Many students were exhausted by the time they sat down to eat. Anna Mefford’s advisory had a delicious dinner at Boxcar. Megha Lakha’s advisory had a lovely outing at the infamous Fat Matt's Rib Shack. They talked with their PALS about how SING was going, fall break, and how Evan didn't say hi to Madison at Willy’s (a sore subject).
Other than learning about Atlanta and volunteering, one of the main purposes of SING is for advisories to bond.
Before SING, Leighton’s advisory spoke a lot but never experienced a genuine connection. During SING they shared many funny moments, like buying a speaker for the next four years of high school, playing a group game of ultimate frisbee, taking a group trip to Walmart, and screaming Taylor Swift on their bus rides.
The connection didn’t come through the things they were doing but the group that they were doing it with. The scorching hot sun while gardening made them realize they were in pain together. By the end of the two days, Leighton’s advisory had many inside jokes and was close as can be.
Tanisha’s advisory connected as well. They shared many funny moments from listening to Morgan Wallen on the bus, to eating the bell peppers in the garden. They also met two people named Mohamed and Michael at the Trinity House - Big Bethel, which was their community service location. During their time together, they made many jokes which ultimately brought their advisory together.
Thanks to SING, a lot of advisories bonded over many things including funny moments or even just the experience. Students hung out with people they didn't normally hang out with, which was a key focus for SING.
Ultimately, SING 2022 was a success, and some of that is due to the organizers listening to what past participants have said.
“The feedback we got is that kids wanted to be off campus on both days, so we worked hard to make that happen this year,” Ms. Turner said.
And this year’s SING participants have their own suggestions, like Katherine Molner who wished she could have experienced the overnight portion. But she still had a great time volunteering and bonding. “It was a lot of fun,” she said.
Original source can be found here.
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