Rock Point School
Helping the Elderly and House Building in Tennessee
 
 Rock Point School, located in Burlington, Vermont, is a coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9-12. The Rock Point School program is designed to meet the needs of average to above average students who are experiencing difficulty in their current school setting and who need the structure and personal contact of a small school community.
 
The philosophy of the School is that every young person should have an education that will prepare them for college in particular and a more enriched life in general.

The Rock Point environment is one of intense creativity and discovery. Hands-on learning and practical experience are most effective and appealing to the Rock Point students and are practiced regularly. Bright, inquisitive, innovative, energetic and forever humorous would best describe the students at Rock Point. Given this incredible group of youth and the school's environment, it is no surprise that a large majority of the student population participates regularly in some type of community service. From working at the local Food Shelf to providing ski and swim lessons to handicapped children and adults (and so many activities in between), Rock Point students continue to serve and seek out new opportunities that will benefit the community and its members.
 
Community service serves as an incredible tool for students to learn more about themselves and their capabilities while having the opportunity to give to others in need. The school has been actively working to strengthen its community service program and connect more with local and national causes. The program has been supported by the Vermont Learn and Serve America Grant through the Vermont Commission on National and Community Service.
 
The vision for the program is to offer students an increased and wider diversity of learn and serve projects to expand their awareness while working with communities towards a common goal.
 
Spring 1997 marked Rock Point School's first week-long schoolwide extended community service trips. The freshman and sophomore classes traveled to St. Johnsbury, Vermont to work with the Northeast Area Agency on Aging while the junior and senior classes journeyed to Tazewell, Tennessee to participate in Habitat for Humanity.
 
Working with the Northeast Area Agency on Aging, the freshmen and sophomores provided assistance moving and cleaning for two elderly gentlemen in housing transition. The junior and senior classes participating in Habitat for Humanity in rural Tennessee started and completed the roof of a Habitat home under construction. Along with the extended service, a week-long pre-service preparation period covered related academic topics and information about the agencies and beneficiaries involved in the projects through a variety of speakers, presentations and activities.
 
The entire student and staff community at Rock Point participated in these projects, addressing issues of homelessness, poverty and aging on a national and local level. A number of students took an active role in helping plan and prepare for the service trips and activities. Along with students and staff, two Rock Point parents volunteered their time to work on site in Tennessee sweating and building alongside their sons and the rest of the school's "construction crew." Everyone involved in these service trips both in Vermont and Tennessee put forth an amazing amount of energy and compassion as they contributed to communities in need.
 
The Habitat for Humanity volunteers were spotlighted on a local television station's news as "Maggie's Heroes" during their week spent in Tazewell. The news clip aired in Northeastern Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky and cited Rock Point's juniors and seniors as the youngest and farthest traveling group to participate in the area's Habitat project. All of the Rock Point students should be commended for their service and dedication. In lending a hand, using their knowledge, and learning new skills, they all worked hard to create homes for those that really benefited from their efforts. They are all heroes! The school looks forward to continuing the extended service service projects next year and expanding weekly projects throughout the local community.
 


Excerpts from Student Journals

"Tazewell, Tennessee, we arrive in the dark and the rain. The smells of a new area both excite and shift our senses. We unload our vans and load up our cabins. People run around looking for bags. As people search through the clutter in the back of the vans you hear bits and pieces of traveling stories. Everyone is quite exhausted after the long haul south. We fall asleep unaware of the work that lies ahead.

We awake to the sounds of a staff member yelling wake up calls to the crew.The groggy sounds of people rising from their warm beds to the new temperatures give an alarming start to the disoriented students. We rise, dress in our work clothes and hike the steep hill to the dining hall where breakfast is waiting. At 8:00 a.m. we promptly hop into our rented vans and drive the half hour to our work site. Awe struck by the unknown we hardly speak a word on the way there..."

Excerpt from "Habitat Trip" by Tara Earley

At the end of the day we had all the trusses up! To look and realize we did all that work was amazing!... As we drove off, I thought to myself "I am going to miss this place," but I will always remember and I got a lot out of what I did while I was there.

Living is giving and you can never give too much...

Kate Beanlands, Junior at Rock Point School

If I were Virgil I would probably be very thankful to have volunteers come and clean the big old mess, but on the other hand, I would miss all of these memories I have... He might think, "These kids seem like they don't care about my stuff, they are just throwing it all away. I'm just going to get what they call trash out of the dumpster...What if I'm looking for something special and can't find it?

...This looks so good. I could never have done it myself. It's also fun because they got to hear my music... Boy, my granddaughter will be happy to see this place so clean. I can get around a lot easier now that I have space..."

Leslie Eriksen, a freshman at Rock Point School, (from an interior monologue about the day she spent helping Virgil move, and how she thought he might feel about the volunteers and their work)