5 Ringgold students create district’s first Community Day

The event will take place April 18 at Chess Park.

Five Ringgold High School students spent every lunch period trading cafeteria chatter for sponsor lists, registration forms and plans for the district’s first Community Day.

Most days, they gathered around the same cafeteria table.

Instead of talking about weekend plans or homework, sophomores Grace Custer and Harlow Spalla sat with seniors Miranda Santina, Dylan Bartkus and Kailyn Webb, sorting through ideas for a 5K, a cornhole tournament, student vendors and ways to bring the Ringgold community together.

One lunch period at a time, they worked toward one goal: showing the community what Ringgold is really about.

By the time Community Day was scheduled and fliers started appearing around town, the five students had learned something about themselves, too.

In the process of organizing the event, they said they found confidence, friendship and pride in their school.

“We are putting in work, we sit together every day at lunch,” Webb said. “We’ve all become really close through this entire process.”

For the students, the idea started with a desire to unite the towns that make up the Ringgold School District.

“We wanted to do something to bring all of the towns within Ringgold together for one event that everyone is part of,” Webb said. “Most towns do their own thing, but we wanted to bring people together and as students we wanted to be the ones to do it.”

The group said they also wanted to challenge the way some people see the district.

“We might not always have the best reputation, but we wanted to show people the type of school we are,” Webb said.

Spalla said the project became proof of what students can accomplish.

“We really wanted to show that you can achieve good things, especially when you work together,” she said.

Different groups had talked about organizing a 5K before, but this year the students decided they were going to make it happen.

“We have had the idea for a 5K before, but we have not been able to get it done,” Webb said. “The process is a little difficult.” Instead of letting the idea fade, the students divided up the work. They made trips to Main Street to meet with business owners, searched for sponsors, organized registration forms and set small goals for themselves.

“We really came together as a group, divided up the different things we needed to do,” Webb said. “We have short goals and once we met those goals, we set more goals to accomplish.”

Webb said the project worked because everyone found a role.

“We have been able to get everything done in our own time and we haven’t had any obstacles that have held us back at all,” she said. “And if we ran into something, we figured out a way through it together.”

Bartkus said there were challenges, even if they were not always obvious.

“That has been the hardest part for us, getting everything set up and seeing what needs done, finding the holes, fixing problems,” he said. “It’s our first time doing this, but with all of the work we have put into this, it will get easier and easier every year.”

Along the way, nearly every club in the school became involved.

Teachers and staff donated supplies, helped spread the word and encouraged the students to keep going.

“The school has been a big support,” Custer said.

Sponsors for the event include The Mon Valley Alliance, Feld Refrigeration and HVAC, George Stasko, Unified Club, SADD Club, Robotics Club, 1837 Botanicals, Colleran & Company CPA PC, OAC, Science Club, Art Club, Ringgold Education Association, Huffy’s, CJ’s Furniture, Italian Village, Chloe & Me Candles and Dettores.

For the students, Community Day is about more than planning an event.

The money raised will go to families in need throughout the district.

“When you think about the good we are putting out, it’s not about us at the end of the day,” Webb said. “We really did just want to help people and make sure people in our communities have support that they need. Whatever that looks like.”

For Spalla, the size of the project hasn’t fully sunk in.

“I don’t think it has really hit me on how big of a thing this is and the impact we are going to have,” she said. “I can’t wait to see the families we are able to help when they see what the community and a group of kids were able to do for them.”

While Community Day is meant to help others, the students said the experience has changed them, too.

Some of them barely knew each other before they started meeting every day at lunch.

“It’s brought us together,” Spalla said. “I didn’t know Miranda before this, I knew of Dylan and Kailyn, and Grace and I are in the same class, but we have all become friends and I am not sure that would have happened without this.”

Webb said one of the biggest things she gained from the project was friendship.

“I have taken away best friends from this,” she said. “These are people I never expected to be close with and now they are some of my best friends.”

“I couldn’t imagine this being a different group,” Spalla said.

The students said they also discovered confidence in themselves.

“I think we have learned that we have a voice,” Bartkus said. “Everyone has a voice and has power to make a change to do something for the school or your community or someone in need.”

For Custer, the experience showed her what can happen when people work together.

“I think now that I have joined this group, you can get so much done when you have people coming together for something,” she said. “It is so much easier to get things done.”

Custer said she hopes other students see what the group accomplished and feel inspired to get involved.

“I hope when people see it was put together by a group of kids, and realize how happy they are to be there, it will get the ball rolling and encourage people to do their own things,” she said. “We came together for something greater than ourselves. That’s what this means to us.”

The students hope Community Day changes the way people think about Ringgold.

“My goal is to have people see Ringgold is more than what they think,” Webb said. “I want people to want their kids to come here and want this place to be somewhere kids feel accepted and have things to do that they can be proud of.”

Bartkus hopes the event also helps improve morale inside the school.

“Sometimes you walk around the halls and you hear bad things about your own school and that shouldn’t be the case,” he said. “Your school is something you should have pride in.

“I really hope this event is a way to bring up school spirit, and a way for us to give this school self love.”

Spalla hopes other students look at the project and realize they can make a difference.

“If they see this small group of children can do this for our community, what can they do and how can they give back and do more,” she said.

For the seniors, there is also the hope that the event continues after they graduate.

Santina wants to come back one day and see that Community Day is still going.

“I really hope I can come back and see who has taken it over and see what we started and how it has made a difference years from now,” Santina said.

Custer and Spalla plan to lead the event next year and begin recruiting younger students to carry it on.

“We don’t want this to be a one-time thing,” Spalla said. “I think this will definitely evolve over time, and that’s what we hope for.”

Bartkus said he believes one part of the event is already here to stay.

“I think the 5K is going to be a staple,” he said.

The students said much of the inspiration behind the project came from science teacher John Laukaitis, who brought the group together and encouraged them to believe they could make a difference.

“He has taught us a lot about caring for other people,” Custer said.

“He does not do stuff for himself, he does everything for his students, and everyone around him,” Spalla said.

The students said Laukaitis never wanted attention for helping them, but they called him “the glue that holds it all together.”

“He’s a big reason for all of us, that inspired us and has always encouraged us,” Webb said.

The lesson Custer hopes other students take away from the project goes beyond Community Day itself.

“He has reeled us in and brought us into this group,” she said. “I hope other students learn if they are feeling lost or stressed out, you have a community willing to help you and being part of something like this, really makes you feel cared about and supported because you’re in it together.”

Community Day will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 18 at Chess Park.

Registration for the 5K is $40 and includes a T-shirt. Registration ends April 15.

Cornhole tournaments require teams of two and cost $50, which also includes a T-shirt. Registration for the tournament ends April 17.

The students said the best way to support the event is to register for one of the activities or stop by and support the student clubs and vendors that will be set up throughout the day.

“This has been planned by us, and we really want the school and the rest of our students to be involved, so our clubs will be set up with goodies, sort of like a Makers Market,” Spalla said.

“So just come out, bring your parents, bring your grandparents, bring your friends and have fun,” Webb said.

For registration information and a full event flier, visit the homepage of the Ringgold School District website at ringgold.org.