A district-wide effort has school staff volunteering throughout Guilford County this summer, but principals and other administrators confessed Monday to receiving far more than they are giving.
When Nicole Hill, principal of Frazier Elementary in Greensboro, stopped in Monday morning at The Arc of High Point, a camp through The Independence Place for children with autism spectrum disorder was in full swing.
She and other Guilford County Schools personnel there to complete hours for the system’s “Summer of Service” settled in beside the children to help with story time and painting.
“I don’t think I’m benefitting them in any way,” Hill said. “I think they’re benefitting me.”
“On a daily basis, you meet children with different developmental needs,” Hill said. Experience with the disorder and knowing how best to serve the children are key, especially for educators, she said.
Working with the children at The Arc, 153 E. Bellvue Drive, on Monday heightened the group’s awareness and understanding of autism, according to Traci Morris, a school counselor at Nathanael Greene Elementary.
“What I’ve noticed is that everybody comes in and they feel a sense of duty,” she said, “but then, at the end of the day, there’s just such a passion for what they’ve seen and where they’ve been.”
Stepping out into the community and giving back is important, especially when educators are working to teach character education within the school system, said Johnita Readus, principal at Sumner Elementary in Greensboro.
“We’re connected,” she said. “It’s not just the children. We’re modeling what we expect them to do. It’s not something that’s a requirement, but this creates lifelong learners to be able to give back to their community, to give back to an organization, to be part of society. It’s not just, ‘What can you do for me?’ but ‘What can I do for others?’”
Readus and Hill said it might be their jobs to educate, but, on Monday, they were the students.
“It’s one of those experiences where you realize how blessed we are,” Hill said. “And any time you can work with students that have some type of disability or exceptionality, it really opens your eyes to some of the challenges that are out there, and it opens up your heart for them.”
“If anyone is getting anything out of this,” she said, “it’s me.”
