{"id":7651,"date":"2018-04-16T09:58:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T13:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=7651"},"modified":"2018-04-18T16:46:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T20:46:15","slug":"kempsville-students-enjoy-art-volunteering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/kempsville-students-enjoy-art-volunteering\/","title":{"rendered":"Kempsville students enjoy the art of volunteering"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, students in the Entrepreneurship and Business Academy (EBA) at Kempsville High School found a creative way to give back to the community.<\/p>\n

Six EBA students collectively volunteered more than 100 hours during the past three months at St. Mary\u2019s Home for Disabled Children. They spent the time working hand in hand with some of the home’s residents in order to create an art piece to auction off at the organization\u2019s annual fundraiser, a gala and auction held Saturday, April 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found out about their annual gala they use to raise funds and decided we all wanted to be a part of it,\u201d said Noelle Eversten, parent of one of the student volunteers. \u201cWe decided painting would be the best way to match all the different needs of the children we were going to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Beginning in February, Cailyn Banks, Sydney Eversten, La\u2019Mari Ferebee, Sarah Justesen, Ronan Livingston and Robert Smith, began visiting St. Mary\u2019s Home to work with its residents on the collaborative artwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved talking to them, helping them paint,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey were having such a great time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coastal theme for the gala this year was the motivation behind choosing the subject of their artwork.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe chose to paint a mermaid,\u201d said Banks. \u201cWe thought it would be really fun for us and the children at St. Mary\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracey Pryor, a parent who helped supervise the student work, is proud of the dedication she saw from the students involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son has Asperger\u2019s, so this project is near and dear to my heart. It was amazing to see how much our kids enjoyed working with the children, and didn\u2019t treat them differently \u2013 just like any other peer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students enjoyed it as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the kids at St. Mary\u2019s, I went in thinking that it was going to be a different kind of experience, but I was wrong,\u201d said Sydney Eversten. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have been more natural, and a really fun time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noelle Eversten was proud to see her daughter and the other children in the group volunteer for the right reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the way it should be. They got in there, got their hands dirty, and everybody had an amazing time. I had to hunt them down to sign their volunteer forms!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe joy radiated in the room,\u201d said Pryor. \u201cA lot of those kids are nonverbal, but you can see on their faces the joy they were having.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single one of them had a part of it,\u201d Smith said. “It was really nice to be around them. Everyone should do this in their life and have this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone agreed that they would like to see this continue next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great partnership and a really great project,\u201d said Pryor.<\/p>\n

It was a great success as well – the group\u2019s mermaid artwork brought in $300 for St. Mary\u2019s Home.<\/p>\n

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