Since the tragedy on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) took the lives of 17 people and injured 17 others, the Parkland and Coral Springs communities have come together each year to help students, staff, and others in the community to heal by hosting a “Day of Service and Love.” This day, held on the MSD campus, was created to not only help the families of the victims, but to also give others a chance to give back to the community as a way of healing and remembering those lost.
“With the tragedy that happened several years ago, a lot of our students, staff, and community wanted to have something positive come out of it,” MSD Principal Michelle Kefford said. “So we utilized the Day of Service and Love to be a way to give back to the community.”
The Day of Service and Love will be a nonacademic day for all students and staff at MSD and will feature four service projects on Monday, Feb. 14. Students must be on campus by 7:40 a.m. and will be dismissed at 11 a.m.
The first service project allows students and faculty to “Feed First Responders.” Those volunteering will serve breakfast to our local police officers, firefighters, and other first responders by way of a drive-through. In addition to breakfast, first responders will each receive a thank-you card made by the students and staff participating.
The second project lets students and staff spend a morning with MSD’s Mind-Body Club. Those participating are given the opportunity to heal and remember those lost through the art of tai chi, meditation, and a variety of arts and crafts projects.
The third project allows students and staff to complete various improvement projects around the school to make it more aesthetically pleasing. This may include painting, chalk, cleaning, and more, to meet the overall goal of general campus beautification.
The fourth project lets students and staff work in the school garden, Marjory’s Garden. This garden was built shortly after the tragedy in 2018. Since then, students, faculty, and staff have continued to grow and work on the garden every Sunday through the Marjory’s Garden Club to create a calming place on campus and support the local environment.
This project will be hard work, but in the end, it will give multiple advantages for students, faculty, and staff at the school. Many different job opportunities will be available for those participating in the project; that way everyone is doing something they enjoy.
The garden not only provides a peaceful location on campus, but also produces a variety of seasonal fruits, vegetables, and flowers sold at Tunie’s, a local organic and health foods store. Students and staff will be able to plant flowers, fruits, and vegetables, pick up trash, mulch, paint decorative rocks, and more.
If MSD students would like to not participate in the service projects on Feb. 14, they are also offered the opportunity to have an excused absence for the day. Many may take the popular option to stay home and participate in their own way. However, others will just take a day off of the hard school week.
“We offer for students to stay home because the day is very emotional, for not just students, but some staff members as well. So that has always been the case,” Kefford said. “We provide the opportunity if it’s too emotionally overwhelming for students or staff to come in. Some feel more comfortable at home with family, and we have to respect that.”
Writer/reporter Alison LaTorre is a sophomore at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
All photos by student photographer Haley Jackson.