R-MA students honor Patriot Day by focusing on community

As it celebrates its 125^th Anniversary in 2017, Randolph-Macon Academy decided to seize the opportunity to celebrate Patriot Day in a different way this year. So after lunch on September 11, 2017, the students, faculty, and staff will head into the community to lend a helping hand wherever it might be needed.

Projects throughout the community have been lined up. Students in grades nine through twelve will help local organizations and individuals with a variety of work, from weeding and raking, to painting and mowing. Locations in Warren County include the 4-H Center, Andy Guest Shenandoah River State Park, Fantasyland, St. Luke’s Community Clinic, the Warren County Senior Center, The Phoenix Project, and a few individual homes. Students will also head to The Kiln Doctor to paint bowls that will be auctioned off for House of Hope. At the last minute, the school added a bake sale to be held in front of Rural King, with the proceeds being donated to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Several groups will venture a bit further to the Winchester area: the chorus and a color guard will participate in Greenwood Mill Elementary School’s Patriot’s Day Ceremony, while other students will help clear trails and fix fences at the 3^rd Battle of Winchester historical park. A smaller group will help clean out and re-plant some raised gardens at Spring Arbor.

Meanwhile, the R-MA Middle School students will write letters of appreciation to our soldiers overseas, and then help clear the Academy’s wooded cross-country trail.