Nettleton High School’s homecoming week comes with a plethora of activities! Raider Serve day, which has been a tradition included in homecoming week for quite some time, is one of these activities.
The Nettleton High School’s East teacher and coordinator for Raider Serve day, Mrs. Taylor, says that Raider Serve Day is “a day where the Raiders actually go out in the community to serve by doing service projects.” There were 128 students that got the opportunity to go to eleven different places, including Craighead Forest, UHE, the on-campus drama department, the humane society, Foundation of Arts, and the Craighead county jail. Each place students had an opportunity to go had different projects to help the community. The students that went to Craighead picked up trash along the disc-golf course, the students who went to the county jail worked on a documentary, the students that went to Foundations of Arts painted polka dots on the street and alley, and more. Mrs. Taylor’s favorite part was “getting to see our students give back to the community, being involved and realizing that, no matter what their age is, they can do something to contribute.”
Mrs. Taylor says that any students can join and, during sign up, it was announced through the office.
Ella Barrett, a student who participated in Raider Serve Day at the FOA for the second year now, joining through Student Council and East, says her favorite part of the day was “just getting to see everyone, like, work together because it’s very rare to see that sometimes, so it’s nice to go out in the community and see that.” Miss Barrett’s reasoning for continuing to do Raider Serve Day this year is that she enjoys giving back and felt like this was a fun way to do so.
Mr. Franks, one of the teachers that helped and supervised students with the Craighead Forest Park, says this is the first time he’s had the opportunity to be a part of Raider Serve Day. Mr. Franks sponsors the “Disc Golf Club”, along with his coworker and friend Mr. Watson, and decided this year to try and take the club along on Raider Serve Day. Mr. Franks explains Raider Serve Day as “something that Mrs. Taylor has really been driving for, for as long as I’ve been here, and even before, to where on homecoming week, since we make it all about Nettleton, it’s a chance for the clubs to give something back to the community.” He also goes on to say that his favorite part of being a part of Raider Serve Day was, “honestly, just the time we got to spend with students outside the school settings. Jokes, stories and getting to share things, and also just seeing a different side of kids. You know, we had a couple kids who, sometimes in class seemed to daydream or not focus, and seeing them work hard and fully commit to something was nice.”
Writer: Hanna Pamplin
