By Doug Flanagan

The leadership class at Waterville School aims to make a difference — not only in the school itself, but in the community as well.

That’s a big assignment, to say the least. But it seems as if every year the class continues to make a bigger and bigger impact.

“This group is pretty self-directed and doesn’t need a lot of assistance,” said Advisor Tabatha Mires. “They’re thinking about what they can do for the school and the town, which is a great thing. They’ve really grown as a class.”

The class, which currently consists of 16 junior high and high school students, completed two projects earlier this month that tied heavily into the giving spirit of the holiday season.

The first project was the school’s annual Christmas food drive, which concluded Dec. 17. Leadership student Kaleb Stevens spearheaded the organization of the school-wide drive, which collected about 700 food items that were subsequently delivered to the Waterville Food Bank, according to Mires.

“It was a good year,” Mires said. “We had a lot of involvement, more than the last couple of years by far. It’s really grown over the years. We had a Facebook page that really helped a lot to keep the word out about it for the kids.”

Lois Frank, the secretary of the Waterville Food Bank, said the items given by the school weighed over 500 pounds, a healthy and welcome donation.

“I really didn’t know what to expect (from the students), but we’re so grateful,” Frank said. “It means so much to the food bank. Without all of the support from the community, we’d have a hard time getting food for all of the customers. The demand is always greater around the holidays. I think it’s wonderful beyond expression. It’s great that the kids have done this because sometimes they’re so wrapped up in their individual pursuits that they forget about (doing good for the community). The kids are great.”

A competition was held between the individual grades, with an ice cream party for the class that could collect the most food items. The fifth-graders, who collected over 200 items, will enjoy frozen confections after the students return from their holiday break in January.

“The students would go around and gather food, and they kept a tally,” Mires said. “They were really enthused about it. Every leadership student brought food. The elementary kids were super competitive. They were really excited about the food drive.”

This is the fifth year that the food drive has been held at the school; the class is planning on holding another food drive in the spring.

The leadership class also gathered books, which were given away after school on Dec. 21 to children and families.

The book giveaway event was started last year by student Jesse Tollackson and was able to give out about 100 books. This year, the project was led by students Taily Lopez and Jessica Day and aimed to distribute about the same number of books.

“We gathered donated books from students and staff and the community for a little over a week,” Mires said. “We sorted the books out by age, and we put them on desks after school and students came in and picked out books. Leadership students wrapped them, and the kids could take them home for free presents for under the tree. The whole idea was giving the gift of reading and having the kids shop for family members without having money.”

The class has been part of the school for the past seven years. The students meet with Mires for a half an hour four days per week to brainstorm activities that they can do to make their school and town a better place.

“They’ve really branched off into community service-oriented things,” Mires said. “They plan their own projects, pretty much. They’ll update the school readerboard, plan Christmas events, put up locker banners, plan school dances, those kinds of things.”

It’s exciting for Mires to watch students who might be hesitant at first to grow into their roles and take a more active position within the class and the school.

“Kids come in nervous, but get more confidence to do things like talk on the phone and communicate with community members and get involved in events, like the breakfast with Santa Claus, the blood drive or the school plays,” she said. “They’re an important piece in the community because they’re not doing it just for themselves. It’s exciting to see that as the years go by. The seniors have learned skills that deal with planning projects, communicating, looking for needs within the community and helping to fill a role.”