WCMS students give a hoot about service

Warren County Middle School students took a journey without leaving campus Friday. The school’s entire student body participated in 16 activities.

The school’s Fit for Service journey began at 7:55 a.m. with the singing of the national anthem and the landing of a Black Hawk helicopter on the football field by pilot 1st Lt. Bradley Pray of the Tennessee Army National Guard.

‘Everyone should give back in their own way,’ said Pray. ‘Whatever way you can, in the military or some kind of service. Give back to your community and give back to your state.’

Pray’s praise of community service, combined with the impressive way he landed the Black Hawk, got the student’s attention and set the tone for the day’s activities ‘ exciting and fun.

Fit for Service is geared toward providing students with exposure to service careers and exposure to lifelong wellness activities. The 16 stops along the journey included careers that give back to the community, including firemen, police officers, military personnel, foresters, and different fitness activities, including sports, aerobics and karate.

‘Today’s activities focus on service careers that will hopefully keep them at home and teach them how valuable they can be, not only by having that as a vocation but also as a service to their community,’ said WCMS principal Betty Wood. ‘It’s also about fitness and how fitness is important to their whole being.’

According to Wood, all the credit goes to two people who worked 180 days to make this one day happen. School resource officer Brad Hennessee was responsible for getting the service career representatives to the school, and school nurse Lisa Duvall coordinated the fitness activities.

The day was a hit. Accompanied by her friend, Michele Martin, student council member and BETA president Brooke Atwood enjoyed the activities, especially the photography aspect of it.

Among one of the stops was the Rock Island Birds of Prey Pavilion. For this exhibit, wildlife officer Jodie Stinson had the smallest and largest birds of prey in the area.

A female kestrel falcon was found in a fallen tree out by the airport following the recent tornado. Although the bird can spread its wings, it cannot fly. When it is able to fly, it will be released back into the wild.

A male great horned owl was found by a West Elementary School teacher while she was mowing her yard about a year ago. Unlike the falcon, it will never be released. For unknown reasons, the bird was born without a right wing.

Along the journey was the Eagle Scout project done by William Hale. The ‘Towles Family Spring’ was a community service project to uncover the spring, located behind the Middle School, so it can be used by history and science classes. The spring was taken over and used by Union soldiers during the Civil War.

All 800 students were given the opportunity to visit every one of the activities at 15-minute intervals once they were divided into two groups.