#ambassadors

Creating a Day of Service

    By Annie Hornsby

From Me, to We, to a Movement

The last few days of school often feel like a no-man’s land. Testing is over. Grades are in. Summer break is right there ahead of you —but you’re not quite there yet. Students and teachers alike are restless. The temptation is to simply fill the time, but let’s be honest: time that’s just “filled” often feels like time wasted.

This year, as I looked ahead to that awkward last week from my vantage point in early May, an idea I’d been toying with for a while suddenly seemed right: a Day of Service. What if we turned that aimless energy into something meaningful? What if we took our eager, fidgety middle schoolers out into the community and let them experience the joy that comes from giving back?

I ran the idea past our school administrators. Thankfully, they were all for it. (Let’s face it—most administrators will green-light anything productive at this point in the year.) So I had their support… and not much else. It was just me, an idea, and a fast-approaching deadline.

I got to work. Phone calls. Emails. Outreach across the county. Within days, I had a roster of welcoming sites that included:

  • A nonprofit supporting foster families

  • A local assisted living center

  • An elementary school eager for student readers and mentors

  • A public butterfly garden in need of cleanup and replanting

  • A conservation area battling invasive species

Then came the real test: getting teacher volunteers. I crafted a hopeful email, introduced “the new thing” we were trying—A Day of Service!—and hit SEND.

I didn’t have to wait long. Ding! Ding! My inbox filled with replies. It turns out our teachers were just as ready to get outside and get moving as the students were. In no time, every site had a leader. It was no longer just me with an idea—it was we with a mission.

Of course, there were details to wrangle: buses and drivers, team assignments, permission slips, logistics—but suddenly all that planning felt joyful. We had a shared goal, and a simple one: go out and make things a little better. Our 8th graders would serve off-campus, while our 7th graders tackled projects around the school. Altogether, over 200 students participated.

And when the day came? It was magic.

Our students at the assisted living center overcame their initial nerves and ended up bonding with residents—turns out, some of those seniors were former athletes, too. At the butterfly garden, students proudly shared photos of their planting, delighted with the gifts of gloves and milkweed plants from the local garden club. One teacher who led the invasive species project joked that his only complaint was not having enough time—he’s already lobbying for his own bus next year.

But the real story isn’t in the weeds pulled or the books read. It’s in what these students discovered: the value of service, leadership, and compassion—one project at a time. They saw that their efforts matter, that they have the power to create positive change.

It went so well that the Macon Middle School Day of Service is now an official annual event—we’re even thinking about having two next year. And yes, I said we. There’s now a Day of Service Committee and months to plan an even bigger, bolder impact for next time.

What began as a personal idea became a collective movement.
 From Me, to We, to something that just might last.