School Zone is a weekly column written by the Washoe County School District trustees and admini-stration about key issues and noteworthy news for parents, teachers and students.
Education takes place in schools in many different ways. Look at Depoali Middle School, where students plan to use 4,000 cans of tuna to build a 10-foot-by-4-foot design of their mascot, the diamondback rattlesnake. Why, you might ask. The students will be competing in this year's "CANstruction" competition to be held at Meadowood Mall at the end of the month. All of the cans used in the building will be donated to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. The Food Bank encourages professional and student teams to create large art structures out of canned and packaged food. This is both a civic engagement competition as well as a mechanism for generating food donations.
Encouraging students to have a clear understanding of their mantle of responsibility as citizens and being ready to practice that responsibility is a valuable lesson. Children are never too young to be involved in the world around them. They should be aware of what it means to help others, how government works and what their responsibilities are as citizens.
Civic engagement offers students the chance to develop a link between themselves, the community and the world around them, thereby creating a better understanding. Interestingly, research indicates that the more education a student has, the more likely it is that they will actively participate in their community.
As teacher and a lifelong learner, I believe in teaching the whole child. We must instill a sense of duty in our children. Children learn through example. If they see parents, teachers and classmates getting involved in the community, they will follow. More often or not, they will have fun at the same time -- just think about the Depoali students and the fun they are going to have building their 10-foot snake.
We want Washoe County School District's children to leave our care well-equipped with the skills to be responsible citizens and active participants in community and government.
Nancy Hollinger is clerk of the Washoe County School District board.
