By Julie Slama | [email protected]

This year, after not being able to hold it recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Juan Diego Catholic High seniors stepped off campus to provide a 40-hour week of service in January to one of 26 nonprofit organizations along the Wasatch Front who have partnered with the school.

“Juan Diego was incredibly grateful to partner with many agencies across the SLC Valley,” said Michelle Moynihan, school social justice and Christian service projects coordinator. “Despite complications due to COVID, our students were generous in the giving of their time and talents. They served with their whole hearts. I was so grateful to see our motto ‘Spiritus Donorum’ come alive in such a real way through our students, agencies, and the people served.”

It is the seventh year of the program for students who are anxious to help, and organizations are thankful for the opportunity to have extra sets of hands. But it is more. Many organizations say they are providing learning experiences for students in the real world.

This year, two seniors, who have competent ski abilities, volunteered at the National Ability Center, which typically serves 7,000 individuals per year from across the United States and worldwide, offering more than 20 adaptive sports ranging from mountain biking, paddle sports and equestrian to indoor climbing, Nordic skiing and snowshoeing.

“We create a week of volunteer service plus some education, so they have an understanding of what we do here and the populations we serve,” National Ability Center volunteer coordinator Leanne Dannacher said. “These students participated in our ski and snowboard volunteer training so they would be able to be on our ski and snowboard lessons.”

After spending mornings on the slopes with individual lessons, then students helped with small group activities where they would help teach different life skills through activities, she said, adding that the students also were trained in ability awareness.

“The students always help us so much and make such an impact on the participants,” Dannacher said. “They worked with veterans, populations with intellectual and cognitive disabilities and with populations with physical disabilities, adolescent to adults. They were able to experience the whole gambit of different populations we serve at the National Ability Center.”

Dannacher said through the years some students have had a connection to the disability community while others want to learn more about nonprofits, adaptive recreation or find a way to be active outside and be able to serve.

She said the partnership works well for the National Ability Center.

“We get volunteers and that means we can keep running these programs and we just get to spread more awareness about the National Ability Center and reach more different types of communities” which can lead to more volunteers, Dannacher said.

Sandy Senior Center Manager Charles Otis also has welcomed the interaction between the high school student volunteers and seniors at his center since the program’s inception.

“These kids are, without exception, wonderful, able, friendly and they love participating; they raise the energy level for the staff and the seniors,” he said. “Having these students here is a win-win for everybody on multiple levels. Everybody gets a great experience, and the kids get some knowledge to carry into life.”

Otis said students begin the week of volunteering from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with an orientation.

“I say, ‘You’re going to have a good time here. It’s going to be a little different than you think. You’ll combine some good labor with acquiring firsthand experience with being in classes with seniors,’” he said.

During the week, students may clean closets, install shelving, hang paintings, change room set-ups and deep clean the kitchen and pantry. Through the years, they also have called out bingo, helped serve lunch and volunteered in the thrift store.

“One of the things I want them to always do every year is to interact with seniors. I want them to actually participate in some of the classes here. This year, the kids did the Drums Alive class, they did yoga and tai chi, and enhanced fitness,” Otis said.

Through participation, he wants student to witness a senior who may be in good shape physically while another may not.

“Obviously, it could be medical and medical history, but I want them to see we have a really active senior clientele here. We do have folks who are less mobile and can’t do much in terms of exercise beyond sitting in a chair kind of exercise, so I want kids to understand that exercise, eating well, staying healthy will help them lead their lives in a meaningful way,” Otis said. “I think it inspires the kids in a good, very positive way to spread the world and to learn firsthand how a well-lived life looks like.”

In its first year partnering with Juan Diego, Strides Pediatric Therapy Director of Operations Marley Juarez said the high school seniors learned about people and possible careers during their week volunteering.

Through activities and games, students assisted therapists in physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, mental health therapy and recreational therapy sessions with children. The students also helped with hippotherapy, which uses horses to help children in therapy sessions. Juarez said it requires two extra people in addition to the therapist for each of those sessions. 

“They really get a feel for what the pediatric therapy world has to offer,” she said. “We are one of a few clinics that have this many services and there are very few places that incorporate the use of horses as well. All four of our seniors have horse experiences so I think it was awesome for them to see how a passion for something like that can be incorporated into a career that really makes a difference in kids’ lives.”

Juarez said that she feels the week-long service is meaningful and provides connections for students with nonprofit organizations in the community.

“It teaches kids the importance of setting aside time to incorporate experiences and learning that isn’t necessarily strictly academic or book-based,” she said. “I think Juan Diego sets a phenomenal example that book learning isn’t the only important thing to forming these young adults. Taking a week to teach them about serving others and taking these opportunities to learn, and really spend their time giving to other people, is very important. We definitely intend to do it every year.”