Every fall, BAHS students go around town for one day to help with Centre County’s Day of Caring. 

This year, Day of Caring was held on Thursday October 6. BAHS seniors were grouped by homerooms and either walked or travelled by bus to the place where they would be volunteering for the day. This year, students went to the Boal Mansion, Union Cemetery, Bellefonte YMCA, Bellefonte Faith Center, and Camp Krislund.

Many teachers chaperoned Day of Caring this year, most of whom have senior homerooms, which means those teachers have had the current seniors for four years now and know them very well. Band Director Mr. Caleb Rebarchak went with his homeroom and history teacher Mr. Matthew Maris and his homeroom to the Union Cemetery just down the street from BAHS.

“I thought that the students worked really well during the day. Some students were cleaning gravestones, while others were picking up tree branches and brush, and a third group was straightening gravestones that had fallen down or were not square on their pedestals,” Mr. Rebarchak said. 

He noted that the students not only seemed to be working, but to be invested in what they were doing 

“All of the students were engaged in their various activities, and from what I observed while cleaning gravestones they seemed to be really interested in what we were doing,” he said. 

Mr. Maris thought the day went very well.

“It was a perfect day weather-wise and my favorite part was sharing some history with students about Union Cemetery as we worked and cleaned up. Some students even got to clean grave markers after being trained on how to properly care for them,” Mr. Maris said.

Another location that students visited and worked at was the Boal Mansion, which is a bit farther away from the school in Boalsburg. About half of the Senior Class worked at the mansion because of the sheer size of the house and barn along with the surrounding land. A lot of teachers accompanied the students at the Boal Mansion. For some of the teachers, this was also their first time participating in the annual Day of Caring.

“I’ve never participated before. Being the Senior Class co-advisor, this was my first year and it was rewarding,” Ms. Zimdahl-McManus (Profe) said.

Before the day got started, a small group of students and teachers were invited to the Bryce Jordan Center to kick off the county-wide initiative.

“I didn’t have just one favorite part, but I’ll comment about how it was nice to represent Bellefonte at the United Way’s kick off breakfast at the BJC that morning with the Class of 2023 officers and my other co-advisor, Mrs. Smith,” Profe said.

All students from BAHS who worked at the Worldwide Day of Caring will receive community service hours which will count toward their graduation progress. Next year and in the years moving forward senior classes will continue to go out to different places to help take care of the community.