Freshmen participated in the first-ever freshmen service day on Tuesday, April 7, while sophomores took the pre-ACT, juniors took the ACT and seniors participated in the Senior Field Trip to the City Museum. 

Dr. Megan Burian, gifted resource teacher, worked with Principal Dr. Tracey Waeckerle to organize the event. 

Students either volunteered at MHS or one of seven off-campus locations, including Kehrs Mill Elementary, Woerther Elementary, Selvidge Middle School, Babler State Park, Castlewood State Park, Faust Park and Operation Food Search.

Each location had about 35 students and three to five staff members, Dr. Burian said.

“Most of the off-campus locations emailed me the same day or the next day to thank us for sending students and to say what a great job our students did and how well they represented the school,” Dr. Burian said.

Dr. Burian said this placement was determined partially by which locations students had permission to attend based on a parent permission form submitted prior to the event or specific prior skills their volunteering required. For example, only students who have taken Food Fundamentals were able to work in the FACS classrooms baking cookies and dog treats.

Other service activities included painting flowerpots for support staff, writing cards to veterans at Jefferson Barracks, designing kindness placemats for a local nursing home, packaging boxes of food and picking up trash in the environment.

Freshmen typically listen to a speaker and have work time on the yearly ACT day. However, Dr. Burian said staff have been hoping to create a more meaningful experience for freshmen.

Dr. Burian said she organized a service day for students when she taught her service-learning unit during seventh-grade Stretch at Crestview Middle School and Selvidge Middle School. When Dr. Waeckerle brought up organizing a freshmen service day in January, Dr. Burian jumped at the opportunity to help.

Dr. Burian then reached outside organizations to find opportunities to volunteer. After hearing confirmation that these groups would accept student volunteers, Dr. Burian worked with the district to organize buses.

“We’re really happy with how it turned out, considering the timeline we had and knowing we have to make some changes,” Dr. Burian said.

In the future, Dr. Burian said planning will include a staff committee and will begin earlier in the year to hopefully find more off-campus opportunities. Also, students will likely come back to school before lunch because staff realized students didn’t need as much time to accomplish their volunteering projects as they had predicted.

Overall, Dr. Burian said she was impressed by how optimistic and enthusiastic freshmen were while volunteering.

“It’s funny, because I’ve talked to some of the freshmen, and several of them were like, ‘You know, I wasn’t really excited, but I actually really enjoyed it,’” Dr. Burian said. “Freshman year can be so tough trying to find your place, so hopeful our students have found their little group, but knowing they’re part of something bigger and there are connections they can make beyond Marquette, I think that’s really important.”

Natalie Vesper, freshman, went to Faust Park for her service day. She said she enjoyed being outside working with her friends.

“We crafted a fence out of vines,” Vesper said. “It was fun to go out there and do stuff but I also would have been content to sit in a classroom”

At Kehrs Mill Elementary, Ja’Colbi McKay, freshman, picked up litter on the playground. McKay went to Kehrs Mill in fifth grade and said it was fun to go back.

“It was nice to see the teachers again,” McKay said.

Jennifer Holman, science teacher, was the lead supervisor for the MHS nature trail, a trail she created last year.

“But there’s bunches of trash everywhere,” Holman said. “It gets wind blown from different areas and the rain water washes trash down there.”

Holman said the service day was a great opportunity for students to serve others.

“At this time in their life students are very much consumers. This is an opportunity for them to give back,” Holman said.

This story was originally published on Marquette Messenger on April 9, 2026.