When an area of leadership from year 2018 comes to an end, it’s also the starting point for new leadership for the class of 2019.

The Community Service club has been a significant part of student life at Williston. Many activities throughout the year, such as the blood drive, the restoration of the Emily Williston Library, and the Winter Warmer Concert, were created to help students give back to the community they are living in with small gestures of kindness.

This year’s leaders of the Community Service Club were seniors Sophia Schaefer and Anabelle Farnham. The elected leaders for next year are seniors Magnolia Armstrong, Maddie Elsea, Caleb Stern, and Glede Wang.

The leaders of the community service club typically take on a lot of responsibilities outside of the heavy schedule between classes and afternoon activities. They dedicate their time and energy and really focus on the club and its many activities throughout the year, such as the Blood Drive, the Food Drive, Winter Warmer concert, Spike Ball Contest, Riverside Industries Auction, and others.

Kate Garrity, who is the Director of Student Life Curriculum and also the supervisor of the Community Service Club, agrees that being the leader is a big responsibility, and requires a lot of dedication.

“The leaders help schedule meetings, communicate with the entire group and make announcements to the whole community,” said Garrity. “They lead by example, by attending events, and with their energy for service, but a lot of their job is organizational.”

Therefore, the process of selecting the leader was very tough for her since there were many good applications to choose from. However, she has a list of standard when it comes to choosing.

” They need to have excellent energy, time management and good communication skills,” said Garrity. “Beyond that, we give preference to those who have good ideas for the club next year and those who have contributed the most in the past.”

Garrity is confident in the group of new leaders she has chosen.

“We had all seniors this year as well, and it worked well,” said Garrity. Because all the leaders will graduate at the end of the year, Garrity said, “it will just be a slightly harder transition for the new group next year, but I’m confident that they’ll be fine because they’ve been a part of all of the events this year.  Ideally it would be great to have a junior, but this group was pretty much undeniable.”

One of the leaders chosen for next year, Glede Wang, shared her excitement

“I am personally most excited to work with all these wonderful people,” said Glede. “I feel like we already have a great team. We have so many active members, and people within our community are already recognizing our work. I am really excited to work with this group next year. Maybe we can break the Food Drive record again, who knows?”

She also shared her admiration for the work of the leaders this year: Sophia Schaefer ’18 and Anabelle Farnham ’18.

“Anabelle and Sophia are both really responsible and I can see that they really dedicate themselves for the welfare of the club,” said Glede. “Of course that makes me feel a little stressful, that I need to work hard to be as good as them. I am most impressed about how they can manage to make the club still [active] throughout the year;  I feel like it became a steady part of my life to get emails from them. I think it is really hard to spread out the events so nicely. So kudos and hearts to them!”

Sharing their own experience from being the leaders of the club this year, Sophia Schaefer told The Willistonian she loved her time in the club.

“It is a rewarding and fun club and I got to meet a lot of people who I might not have ordinarily met,” said Sophia. “I love creating opportunities for Williston students to help other people in our community and beyond. It was so fun to work with so many different people. Working with Anabelle and Ms. Garrity was great. I learned more about being organized and working with people. I also learned about how to create and plan successful events.”

One of Sophia proudest achievement this year for the Community Service Club was the food drive, which broke the record from the previous year’s drive. She was  impressed by how all the grades put so much effect into helping out the local food pantry.

“I am also proud of our more social events, like the Winter Warmer and the Spikeball Contest, because they are super fun ways to help the community,” said Sophia. “I think the best events are when everyone is excited about helping.”

Sophia has a message for the upcoming leaders of the Community Service Club next year.

“I would advise them to stay organized and enjoy themselves,” she said. “A big part of leading this club is being on top of things. And they should have lots of fun with it!”