When I was deciding where I wanted to attend high school, one of my priorities was finding a community that valued community service. Currently, I visit the elderly for and hour and a half once a week and I visit the Humane Society of Ojai every monday.  Last year, I volunteered at a local school for disabled and special needs children.  For me, there is nothing more special than knowing that you made someone’s day better.

Today, we had the annual community service day to celebrate Martin Luther King Day and the Ojai and Thacher communities.  I helped clean up the kitchen garden at Thacher.  Our group raked up the leaves and trimmed all the plants.  In addition, we planted new strawberry, lettuce and parsley plants.  While I was elbow deep in the mud, trying to dig up weeds, I was able to reconnect with the importance of helping others.  Today was extremely rewarding, as the community is able to raise organic produce, therefore decreasing pesticides in local streams and avoiding unnecessary packaging.  The entire community was able to gather together to celebrate the beauty of the world that surrounds and share stories of our days of service over a delicious meal that was prepared almost entirely of plants and meat that Thacher students raised.