As of 2022, 44.5% of U.S. households own dogs. Approximately 65.1 million households own at least one dog. That would be over 600 families at Atholton alone! This year Atholton’s Leadership and Student service Learning class is partnering with Canine Humane Network to benefit both students and canines.
The Canine Humane Network is a non-profit organization located in Howard County, Maryland, dedicated to rescuing and providing shelter for dogs in need. In addition to simply providing shelter for dogs, they provide training sessions to facilitate future adoption plans. The mission of the Canine Humane Network is to provide homes and sanctuaries for all of the homeless dogs out there.
The Leadership/Community Service class is a semester class that emphasizes the investment of leadership skills while engaging in a student service learning experience. In the class, they go through and discuss many topics including organizational structure and operational techniques, application of interpersonal skills, collaborative problem solving, and decision-making.
The leadership/service class has done a drive Monday, November 4 through Tuesday, November 26, 2024 titles, “All Paws on Deck.” The drive is a student-led community service initiative at Atholton High School dedicated to supporting Canine Humane Network’s mission by organizing donation drives within the school community.
“We have planned to set up boxes around the school to collect various donations. Some of these donations will include, but are not limited to, dog toys, leashes, collars, beds, blankets, towels, puppy pads, and dog bags. In addition to physical donations our class plans to electronically collect funds (via the OSP system) for the shelter in general.”
Faith Grandier, a sophomore and first year student in the leadership class, announced during morning announcements a few days prior and the whole week of the drive to notify Atholton’s students and staff.
Grandier said the leadership class for her is “telling us different leadership styles and trying to get us to become better leaders so we can succeed out in the world.”
Faith Grandier also commented that for this drive “Avani Wadadekar, a senior at Atholton and participates in the class, just communicates with them.“
So there is no actual trip to the Canine Center and the boxes are dropped off at the Center. Grandier made a short announcement about the Canine drive and created a fun Canine Trivia game played during the 3rd period announcements.
Some Trivia questions included: what breed is the smartest dog? Grandier listed four possible answers A. German Shepard B. Golden retriever C. Border Collie D. Poodle. For this trivia question the correct answer would be C. Border Collie! This was an interactive, exciting way to bring attention to the drive and to add to student and staffs knowledge about dogs.
Before the leadership class picked to do the Canine drive, students had two days to research non profits in the area. Then students presented each non-profit to the entire class. Avani Wadadekar wrote and presented on the Canine non profit. After all presentations were complete, the students in the class voted on which no profit to help.
Wadadekar explained that “we collect the donations and boxes here and then someone will drop them off to the shelter, probably me because it is the company I presented to the class.”
George Dimitrov, a junior, says that normally the leadership class only picks one drive, “but this year we decided on two, making one a bit of a side project.”
The class was also doing a drive for Grassroots, a homeless shelter, where students are asking individuals to drop off fruit in bins in the cafeteria during the Canine drive.
As well as donations and doing this drive, Dimitrov noted that he also has learned a lot from the Canine Network, because he says, “they are very good at managing the donations they get. They can spread even the smallest amount of donations out fairly for all the dogs in the shelter.”
Another way to help is through monetary donations. Students should have seen a link, sent from Ms. Johnson-Rolles, the teacher of this class, in their canvas inbox where they clicked to make donations to the Canine Network and learned a bit about the leadership class.
Ms. Johnson-Rolle has been a teacher for over 20 years, however this is her first year teaching the Leadership/Community service class.
“At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, administration informed me I’d be teaching the Leadership/Community Service class” Ms. Johnson-Rolle said, “as the Teachers Academy of Maryland (TAM) instructor here at AHS,” She typically works with students who want to become future educators,
“which gives me the unique opportunity to cultivate their potential in a focused path toward teaching. Although the Leadership/Community Service class is separate from TAM, I find joy in seeing these students discover their own excitement and passion for giving back to the community.”
It is exciting that Atholoton students are helping out such a great cause. The class notes that students can help support these worthwhile organizations, by either dropping off fruit in the cafeteria bins for Grassroots or by donating dog food, supplies, or money for the Canine Humane Network. By donating, you can make a dog’s tail wag in joy!