Thanksgiving Week is going to look different at DHS this year. The Wednesday before the holiday used to be a half day dedicated to two events: the Howard Smith Breakfast and a pep rally. However, the School Committee voted to make Wednesday a day off, making a full day on Tuesday the final day before break.
The School Committee voted on the change after a parent pushed for a Thanksgiving travel day. Last year, their family used the Wednesday to drive to their relatives’ house for the holiday. Their child couldn’t attend school and was extremely disappointed about missing the pep rally. (This explanation is not verified, but several teachers have cited it.)
Now, Tuesday will consist of the Howard Smith Brunch during lunch period and the pep rally in the afternoon, leaving the morning wide open for a new tradition: the Day of Giving and Thanks.
During the morning, students will participate in a service project in all of their classes. Each department chose a different project to take on: Science is running a clothing drive, Special Education is cleaning up DHS’ campus, Art and World Language are creating communal art pieces, and Social Studies and Wellness are writing letters of gratitude, to name a few examples.
The November 17 DHS Weekly Update described the day as a way “to unite the Dartmouth High School community, inspiring collective generosity and goodwill.” The administration hopes “to make a positive impact by cultivating a culture of giving, promoting acts of kindness, and supporting those in need. Through charitable donations, volunteerism, and spreading love and compassion, we aspire to foster One Dartmouth and empower students to make a difference in the lives of others.”
The Day of Giving is DHS English Teacher Jesse Grieve’s brainchild. “I came up with the idea from a conversation [DHS Principal] Ryan Shea and I had about being disappointed that the tradition of the half day before Thanksgiving was not going to happen this year,” she recounted in an interview. “We still wanted to do something that made that day full of tradition, so we had talked about developing this idea of giving and thanks.”
A couple of departments didn’t choose a service project, and some teachers are deciding not to lead the projects in their classes, instead using the time to continue working through their curriculums. Mrs. Grieve disagreed with this philosophy. “Part of being a teacher is not just the academics but guiding kids and exposing them to the right things to do. Giving back to a community that gives so much to you is sending a good lesson. I feel like that should be the focus around this time of year, and that one day to bring awareness to giving and thanks for the community is a far more important lesson than any lesson they possibly could be learning in the classroom the day before they’re about to leave for a five-day break.”
Other teachers promised their students extra credit if they bring in an item for a drive. “That’s sending the wrong message,” Mrs. Grieve said. “When you do an act of community service, you’re doing it for the person that you are providing the service for – not to make yourself feel good, not for any points, not for any gain. When you do something for someone else, you’re doing it for that person, and that’s the focus, not yourself.”
On the latest edition of The Spectrum Podcast, Spectrum staff members said they’ll miss the Wednesday half day, but they’re excited about this new tradition.
“It’s a really good idea, the day of giving back, because all of the students have to be involved with organizing clothes, organizing drives – it’s not just Student Council or students who choose. Everybody has to get involved,” junior Jordan Rosenberg said. “It’s a good thing to send that message. It’s also a fun idea to just have a whole entire day of fun and giving back. If you think back to elementary school, we used to have that all the time for any holiday. You wouldn’t do any work all day, and you get to high school, and you just have to do work all the time. It’s a nice break if you think about it, and it’s fun to do all the activities.”
Sophomore Andrew Moniz expressed concern about the minimal promotion for the Day of Giving. “It feels like there’s been a lack of information, and overall planning,” he said. “I know that each department was supposed to pick something that they were going to donate. I don’t think that people know enough about those things, and those items that they’re collecting are supposed to be a big part of the day. My science teacher was saying that on that day the science department is collecting clothes, so we’re going to sort through all the clothes that get donated. But I don’t think enough people know about that.”
Senior Emma Carrier agreed with his point. “If these ideas were advertised beforehand and continuously advertised over maybe weeks, then there’d be more exposure and involvement overall,” she remarked.
Mrs. Grieve has big plans for Days of Giving to come. When developing the plan for the Day, she spoke to the wife of DHS Lead English Teacher Will Higgins, who works at Fairhaven High School and formerly organized a similar program. Fairhaven ran a similar event, but instead of serving in school, students served across the town.
“We were hoping to do it the way Fairhaven did it where the juniors and seniors go out into the community during the time and actually volunteer at specific places,” Mrs. Grieve explained. “But with not knowing until the beginning of the year about the half day, we weren’t really able to pull that off this year. So we kind of modified it a little bit for this year. But next year that’s really what we hope it accomplish, to have the students be able to go out into the community and give back to the community.”
Future Day of Giving activities could include cleaning up Crapo Field, volunteering at a local animal shelter, or doing projects with the Council on Aging or Dartmouth’s elementary schools. “These were originally the thoughts that we had, but with the bussing for all of that, and the time restraint, and contacting all these places and setting it up, we need much more time to get that going,” Mrs. Grieve said.
If the Day of Giving is successful this year, could these ideas for expansion become a reality? “Definitely. Absolutely,” Mrs. Grieve stated. “That’s the vision for the future.”
