Each year, Woodville Elementary School (WES) teacher, Tanya Farr, challenges her students to complete service projects within the community that focus on fostering empathy for others.
“Service projects provide students with real-world experience, foster civic responsibility, and build essential life skills like problem-solving, teamwork, and empathy,” she explained. “They also help students connect classroom learning to community needs, develop confidence, and explore potential career interests which we will be discussing later in the school year.”
This school year her Grade 8 class completed two projects to date:
In late 2025, the class had a discussion about food banks and the inequality of personal care items available through this service. This sparked the idea of the student’s first project – a hygiene collection drive. Each student was tasked with filing a shoebox with hygiene products such as shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, tampons, toilet paper, pads, toothbrushes, and deodorant. After organizing the donations, the class delivered the supplies on December 16, 2025, to A Place Called Home, an organization supporting families and individuals in the City of Kawartha Lakes with emergency shelters and resources.
“It felt amazing to help so many people in need,” said student, Hayden Jackson.
For their second initiative in December 2025, the class traveled to Caressant Care, a retirement and long-term care facility. There, they sang carols and decorated cookies for residents who weren’t anticipating any holiday visitors.
“This has been my favourite field trip. I don’t usually go on field trips, but I’m so glad I came on this one. Hearing the elderly’s life stories was the best,” said student, Amelia Clark.
Good work, Grade 8s!
