2008 – 2009 Calvine High School Blog

11 responses so far ↓

• 1    Karla M. // Oct 2, 2008 at 10:20 am

  I believe the benefits from the volunteer work at the Pumpkin Patch were very positive. I volunteered to work there because I wanted to help out the community by picking pumpkins for the kids. This helps the kids out a lot because now its easier for them to pick a pumpkin that they will enjoy. Another reason I did it was not just for the community but because I got some credit towards school, which will help me towards my graduation for high school. Also I believe that I learned a little about how to pick pumpkins. For example, that you must always check under pumpkins before picking them for black widows because they tend to hide there.

  Civic-mindedness is very important in many ways. For example, when one person helps another person they both get something out of it. One person gets help and the other person feels good about themselves for helping someone in need. When I helped out at the Pumpkin Patch I felt good because I know now that a kid is going to come and pick out a pumpkin that I picked out from the ground for them, which will make me feel great about it. Not only did I help out my community but I helped myself out in being more confident about myself towards helping another person.

• 2    SHEETAL K // Oct 3, 2008 at 11:12 am

  I believe when I went for the pumpkin patch field and when in school I was told that we are going to pick pumpkin for small kids for Halloween, I was very excited that I am going to help kids. It was benefiting for me because I got credits towards my graduation from high school. I believed I learned a lot picking pumpkin and being careful of the spiders hiding underneath the pumpkins. I also learnt if I ever go in a pumpkin field, no matter what I have to wear tennis shoes.

  I heard from my elders if you help others, and pretend you didn’t do any thing for them, because if you do something and you tell every one that you did something for them, then that doesn’t count in your life. For example I went to help kids by picking pumpkins for them and they didn’t even know who did it for them. That was my experience and I also learnt a bit about farming stuff, for example, how to pick pumpkins from the fields.

  In conclusion, I wish this type of activities should be done every day and I liked my experience working for the pumpkin patch.

• 3    Casandra G // Oct 7, 2008 at 10:22 am

  My volunteer work such as working at the Roemer Pumpkin Patch was a wonderful experience. It was something I have never done before. So as I tell you a little about my experience, a friend and I from Calvine High School arrived at the Roemer Pumpkin Patch on a Saturday at 8: 30am in the morning, as we arrived there were many other students there as well from Calvine and from Jackman Middle School volunteering to help as well. We through some gloves on and got to business, and when I say got to business I mean we did about 8 to 10 rows of hard work. We had to pick up pumpkins from 0.1 pounds to some even heavy as 10 to 15 pound pumpkins at first it was a peace of cake but then a hour into hard labor it felt as if the pumpkins were starting to weigh about 50 to 100 pounds but really it was just us students getting a little tired. As our hard work continues they would come by and give us water nice fresh cold water. Then we would get back to what we started until we finished.

  I got the chance to help out students from an elementary school giving them the chance to pick out pumpkins and learn about farming and agriculture such as black widows, pumpkin beatles, gnats, and rotten pumpkins that had a horrible smell to them. The benefits are if we hadn’t gone out there to pick up those pumpkins and do the work that we did for these kids the students wouldn’t have gotten the chance and opportunity to experience all the learning and all of the benefits out of it. All of that hard work and horrible smell paid off at the end because they thanked us with some awesome nachos and a pumpkin to take home with us, not to mention that we even earned school credit. This experience has been great for myself. If I ever come across a chance and opportunity to do this again I would definitely do so.

• 4    Tristan G. // Oct 21, 2008 at 10:31 am

  My volunteer work was a lot of fun. At first I wasn’t really sure what to expect to do, but as we all started working together to get the job done it all went fast and smooth. Our job at the pumpkin patch was to move pumpkins that were in the bush and vines to a clear path so the chopper tractor could mow the stuff away. This was for the elementary students that were going to come after we did all the pumpkin picking. I felt really good for doing the work because I am helping give a chance for a little kid to get a real pumpkin for the season.
  Volunteering a little of our time to help someone that needs it makes up a better community. By helping others we could make friends and pull a neighborhood together. By doing this we could all make a better place for children and make it safe.

• 5    Andrea P // Oct 21, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  My contribution by going to the pumpkin patch was very beneficial to many people including myself. By me participating it also helped the community because, if we didn’t have a pumpkin patch the primary schools in Elk Grove would not know about agriculture, farming, and the pumpkins and the reason for them being grown here in Sacramento. Also it lets them go and learn, not by just being in a class room, but from actually going and seeing things and also listening to the people at the pumpkin patch. Another thing that is benefited by me going and helping at the pumpkin patch is that, I volunteered to do it and they don’t have to give me anything or pay me that way they could save money to plant more pumpkins or anything else they might need. Lastly the students at the primary schools don’t have to go and pick the pumpkins from the ground because I was one of those people who did it for them, to help them out.

  It is important for people to volunteer on projects being done in there community. The reason for this is if we didn’t have voluntary work not many of the projects would not be getting done. Some example of this is when there is a food drive going on at school to help the people less fortunate then you, because they have very little food or no food at all, you could help by buying and going out with your money to bye the food for them so that way they have something to eat. When you do something like this you feel good about yourself, or at least you should, because you know you did the right thing by helping some one that needed it. Also doing community service is important because you also get benefited by it for example it looks good on your job or collage applications, also when you are in high school some schools require you to have community service done before you graduate. Lastly you also help out the community and the people around you who needed it.

• 6    Alejandra R. // Nov 13, 2008 at 10:50 am

  Even though it was a hard, tiring job, a warm day and as a first time experience, I would repeat it if was given the opportunity. As I cleaned the sweat off my face, I found myself thinking how much harder it must be for the Roemer family to do this daily, when I was struggling with a couple of hours of labor. The only comfort that motivated me to finish the job was knowing I that was giving them a little bit of help. Even with the small help that I was providing, I knew that they would have to work a little less. And with this one day that I had provided community service I knew that it was going to make a different in society, as well. As I volunteered in the Roemer Pumpkin Patch and the Strawberry Creek Week, I felt excited and proud that the smallest gesture that I had helped was going to be noticed by anyone in the public and could have maybe inspired them to give a little to the community. The most satisfying thing of all this is that I know it made a difference. I believe that if at any moment we could all just participate in community survives this would have to be a better community now and in the future. We can make this a better place to live in, by simply doing our part to help. The only thing we would have to do is assist in a small way that can and will benefit the community. How will you give back to the community?

• 7    Harpreet Singh // Dec 18, 2008 at 4:29 pm

  It was a good idea going to the Stone Lakes Wildlife Refuge. By planting native plants we are trying to restore the wetlands because only 10% is left of what the wetlands were. Also the migrating birds from the north have a place to rest. The benefits for the society from our work is that we helped Stone Lakes Refuge because it doesn’t have the funds to restore the wetlands. It is important to learn and know about the wildlife, the animals habitats, and caring about your society because the city is growing and building new houses every where so it is ruining the wildlife. Eventually the animals have no where to go and there species might die out soon so thats why I am glad I helped out. My benefit was learning about the wildlife, birds, and animals.

• 8    Raymond Prasad // Dec 19, 2008 at 12:15 pm

  Doing volunteer work at Stone Lake Wild Life refuge was a good experience. First what we did was walk around and explore the refuge. We had a wonderful view of the birds flying south. Next what we did was plant native plants. The reason why we planted native plants was so the birds coming from the north would have a place to rest and eat. The refuge use to be wetlands then became farmlands. This benefits the society in many ways, one is to restore wetlands and another is to save money for the society. All in all volunteering and working on community projects are important because they help wild life. This experience has helped me realize the importants of volunteering for the community and the wildlife. The reason I went was because it was an interesting and I got the opportunity to earn extra credit.

• 9    Juan M. // Mar 26, 2009 at 1:56 pm

  When it comes to helping the community volunteer work is a great choice. Everyone can benefit from it and it plays an important role in our society. When I volunteered to go to Stone Lakes National Wild Life Refuge I had no idea that I was doing more than just restoring the flora back to the original wetland. I was also helping with the development of a future habitat for migrating water fowl located on their flyway which is south in the winter and north in the summer. We were working on restoring current farmland back to it’s original wetlands it once was by planting trees and bushes. By volunteering we provided for the refuge what they could not afford and did something that would benefit more people.

• 10    Jasmine J. // Mar 27, 2009 at 10:49 am

  I recently went to Stone Lake Wildlife Refuge to help restore the Wetlands. There wasn’t a lot of development there. When first arriving I didn’t know how much land they set aside to help the animals. We helped restore the habitat for birds coming from the north and south to have a place to rest, without our contributions many animals may have died. It was a learning experience, first by me learning to plant trees. Secondly because I learned how important it was for the community to chip in because the Refugee didn’t have the funds to do it themselves. As I walked around I saw birds flocking in the water. I dug holes in the hot sun, but I know by me doing in a few years those plants will grow tall and animals will be able come there because of my and work and effort to plant trees to save the future of the habitat. This experience helped me to not be selfish and stuck in my own world, and to know that there are other beings besides humans who need us and I’m glad I took out my time of day to help.

• 11    Ryan L // Mar 30, 2009 at 2:20 pm

  Well it’s hard enough to find people willing to work for free to save a few animals but I don’t mind helping out. I think it felt pretty good to plant some trees and bushes to help out the wildlife. It’s important to help out the society that we live in because we all live on the same earth together and if we don’t help rebuild it it will not be a nice pretty place like Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. We humans like to destroy land for our buildings and everything but we have top think of the environment and animals that share the land with us. When the community unites to help with these problems a lot of good comes out of it. Everyone wants money so it is hard to find free helpers. I feel better that I could have saves some birds by feeding them with these plants that I planted with my school. If I could go on the same trip next year I definitely would.

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