BALTIMORE — Some Baltimore city school students are helping people stay warm this winter, and they’re using their classroom hours to do it.
Katy Rennenkampf is a freshman seminar instructor at Western High School. She said thanks to a school project, students are lending a helping hand to children who need it most.
“ Lucem accepimus, lucem demus, which means we have received light let us give fourth light. And so, students really connected this project to that larger school picture and our role within our community,” Rennenkampf said.
Students have hand crafted dozens of blankets to donate to children in shelters and hospitals locally. Rennenkampf said through a program called Project Linus her students have learned a lesson of giving.
“ We’ve been focusing heavily on time management and organization tools and how to prioritize our work. It’s been really rewarding to watch students take ownership of these projects,” Rennenkampf said.
Natalie Estelle is a college and career readiness instructor for seniors at Western High. Her students also took part in this project.
“Today they are measuring the blankets and they’re trimming them and trimming all the excess off. They are really enjoying it, they get to pick the colors they want to work with and the team that they’re working with. Coming from Baltimore city I think they really need to understand that helping people is not a bad thing it’s a great thing. I think it really does help build character it helped build teamwork and I think it just it’s all-around good thing. It makes you feel good,” Estelle said.
So far, between the two classes of freshman and seniors, they’ve finished around 80 blankets allowing them to complete their community service hours needed for graduation, and more importantly helping children in our community stay warm.
“Our students come from every ZIP Code of Baltimore. So, they all bring different backgrounds and different communities to the table literally when they’re working. But they all share this recognition, that we have a capacity to do something to better Baltimore and to give back to our communities. They’re also grounded in that community spirit and it’s really rewarding,” Rennenkampf said.
