Currently underway, all sophomore Biology students at La Salle are required to complete nine hours of community service for the Ecology Service Learning Project. Over the course of the year, the Biology classes go out to a near creek to learn about how humans can improve the environment for the future generations of humans, animals and plant life. Some topics that students are researching are air equality, water equality, invasive animals, and invasive plants.

Although community service can take time, not all students think of it as a negative activity. Virginia Jacobs, sophomore, took time out of her weekend and completed three hours of her service through the organization Polish the Pearls. “Even if it takes a lot of work while I’m doing it, I know that I will feel better about myself and the world when I’m done.”

“I think that community service is something to look forward to because it’s a good way to help the community,” sophomore Addy Holenstein said. “You do what’s right and help out the trees and other nature around you.”

If sophomore students were interested in trees, for instance, that required them to find an organization that hosted tree planting, or forest clean up. Holenstein took ivy, an invasive species, out of a local forest area with Johnson Creek Watershed. Some of the other organizations that the Biology teachers suggested are SOLV, METRO, Friends of Trees, and Audobon Society of Portland.

Mrs. Colemen, 10th grade Biology and Honors Biology teacher, believes that community service not only helps the community, but also builds the relationship she has with her students. “It’s kind of fun to hang out with the kids outside of the classroom,” Colemen said. “There’s a different level of relationship when we go outside.”

She also thinks that being outside can help her students understand the material more. “There’s something to be said about going outside, touching, feeling, smelling and experiencing the environment that you just cant talk about in a class room.”

The biology service learning project is meant for students to be active in the community and give them an experience to learn in a new environment, while also demonstrating Lasallian core values. It makes the students see what kind of impact they have on their community in a fun way that they can enjoy with their peers.