Press Release from GRTS

Health Services Technology Program gives back
CT 10 22 19
By Kadin Pollard (CHS Senior HST GRTS) and Sonja Daley (RN, BSN, MS, CTE HST Instructor)

Community Service has a number of important benefits. Engaging in community service provides students with the opportunity to become active members of their community and has a lasting, positive impact on society. Community service or volunteerism enables students to acquire life skills and knowledge, as well as provide a service to those who need it most. Some of the most common benefits include psychological benefits, social, and cognitive benefits. Volunteering helps students enhance their personal knowledge, grow from new experiences, and develop better interpersonal communication skills.

Left to right - Madaline Cowan, Kaia Miller, and Kimber Roberts

Participating in community service not only makes a difference to the organization and people being served but also makes a difference to every student's career prospects. Participating in community service activities helps to enhance student resumes by allowing students to obtain work-related skills prior to graduation, builds good references for employers in regard to community involvement, and provides a forum to network with future potential employers. It also helps students develop civic and social responsibility skills and become more aware of what their community needs.

Though Grand River Technical School (GRTS) students always participate in community service, GRTS Health Services Technology program is engaging in a new kind of community activity this year. Much like the Harry Potter School of Hogwarts' houses, students have been divided into houses - each bearing the last name of its founder and responsible for their own community service project and highlighted for the given month. The houses include Florence Nightingale, William Mayo, Marie Curie, Hippocrates, Louis Pasteur, William Mayo, Antonie Leeuwenhoek, Clara Barton and Ben Carson.

September featured a winter clothing drive for Foster Connect. Students responsible for this project included Madeline Cowan, Lexi Wyatt, Trystn Dunks, Kimber Roberts, Kadin Pollard, Kaylee Greene and Kaia Miller. October features a food drive for a local pantry. The food drive is open to the public as well. Nonperishable, non-expired food donations may be dropped off at Grand River Technical School, 1200 Fair Street, any time during regular business hours during the month of October. Be on the watch for follow-ups and news for each month during the school year!