High school seniors Lauren and Eric wanted to make a difference in their last year at Hillgrove High School. Friends at other schools had talked about Habitat for Humanity high school chapters or clubs. Lauren and Eric decided to start a chapter at Hillgrove. The project took a lot of work, but by the end of the year, Hillgrove had an officially chartered Habitat for Humanity student chapter with 70 members.
Starting a new high school club required a faculty sponsor who was willing to put in many extra hours. The Library Media Specialist Cindy agreed to take the lead. She was assisted by other faculty, including and English teacher that proofed all correspondence, a broadcast teacher that helped with social media, and several other teachers that gave of their time to serve as club co-sponsors to staff fundraising events, officer and club meetings. They reached out to the NW Metro Atlanta Habitat for Humanity office. The office put them in touch with the Cobb High School Coalition. At that point, the Coalition included Campbell, Kell, Pope, Walton and Wheeler High Schools. Coalition members helped out with the charter application process, fundraising ideas and picking build site volunteers.
The Hillgrove team committed to participating in the High School Coalition build. They would need to raise $2,000 by February 14, 2016, to cover their share of the $70,000 in building supplies and materials needed to build a Habitat house. They sold Chik-fil-A calendars. They had Zaxby’s Spirit Nights (see the picture of the slub officers at Zaxby’s) and Chik-fil-A Spirit Nights. They recruited students and charged membership dues. They sought out sponsors. They met their goal and even had a little extra to start on next year’s house!
In addition to their work on the Habitat house, the students took on other service projects. They assisted the Beta Club with their project for Must Ministry’s Women’s Shelter. They made Christmas cards for Calvary Children’s Home. They refurbished three family meeting rooms at the Division of Family and Children Services by cleaning the toys and furnishings, putting in new rugs and painting. (Thank you to Home Depot for furnishing the paint and to Lowes for rugs and organizing bins.) They also organized a toy drive and a book drive to replace broken and worn toys and books at the DFACS center.
With graduation looming, the students still took time to plan for the future. They elected officers for the Hillgrove Habitat for Humanity Club. They finished the application to become officially chartered by Habitat for Humanity. They started working on new club t-shirts and outreach to Hillgrove’s feeder schools.
Faculty sponsors Cindy, Tammy, Heather, Robert, and Angelina got to chaperone the build or attended the dedication of the house sponsored by the Cobb High School Coalition. They saw how the HFH experience changed their students. The Hillgrove students were excited and proud of what they had done. They said, “I painted this room,” and “I put this porch on.” Cindy reflected on the impact of the experience on the students. “They enjoyed making and building and doing. But long term, they benefit from seeing that they are part of a larger community. Some students have never thought about other people not having a computer or being homeless. Working with the Habitat homeowner and listening to her stories showed them there is a bigger world out there. The students give back to make it better.”
Eric and Lauren are both off to college this August, and both have already made contact with their campus Habitat Chapters!