Logging (In Community Service

Written by: Rick DuPree

Director of Community Partnerships The 2021-22 CAC leadership team (left to right): Rick DuPree, Nat Shephard, Keegan Atchison, Alillia Bowden, Zoe Bishop, Wymbia Locoh-Donou

SAAS students have seen many needs in our community increase as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has also made it more difficult to locate service opportunities. Two years ago, Community Action Club (CAC) student leaders from the class of 2020 began to develop a list of resources — which our current CAC leaders have continued — for students who are looking to volunteer. Even though Covid-19 has made service more difficult, SAAS students have continued to step up to the challenge by coming up with creative ways to connect with and serve our community. This school year — and for the third time since the start of the pandemic — CAC has partnered with Bloodworks Northwest to host a virtual drive, signing up donors to help the organization meet the critical need for blood. This is one of the many examples of how SAAS students show up and give back to the community, even during a pandemic.

Rick DuPree Director of Community Partnerships

“Because of the challenges that Covid-19 has presented, we’ve seen a spike in online and remote opportunities for our students, like peer tutoring and proofreading e-books. We’ve also seen a stronger focus on combating food insecurity.”

Keegan Atchison Class of 2022, CAC Senior Leader

“Big Brothers Big Sisters’ (BBBS) goal is to create one-on-one mentoring relationships that empower children. During quarantine, these mentorships were not able to do the same activities, so I helped create activities for matches to do online.”

“Mental health, specifically in teens, has taken a toll during the pandemic. Kids are isolated and many feel unsupported in their homes; this is a large issue in my community and across the nation. I feel that this issue needs to be talked about more and as a member of University of Washington’s Forefront Suicide Prevention, I am working to destigmatize this topic and create initiatives to improve mental health conditions in our school.”

CAC senior leader Keegan Atchison is proactively seeking service opportunities to address to the greatest need that he sees right now: mental health.

Wymbia Locoh-Donou Class of 2023, CAC Member

“The results of my study at a cashew processing factory in Togo, a country in western Africa, showed that 90% of the employees didn’t have bikes or motorcycles. This causes a big issue because most of them have to walk 3-5 km a day to go to work. I came up with an idea to start a fundraiser with a couple of my friends with the goal of raising money to fund bicycles for many of these workers. As a part of the project, I will try to bring 2-4 friends along with me next summer to work at the factory and deliver the bicycles to the workers.”

After the pandemic started, CAC member Wymbia Locoh-Donou went to Togo, West Africa, his father’s native land, to conduct an employee study and work at a rural cashew processing factory.

Alillia Bowden Class of 2022, CAC Leader

“The hard work of CAC leaders before me made it much easier to find remote servicelearning opportunities. Since the pandemic started, one thing that I did was make thank you cards for an organization called Solid Ground through the SAAS Colors and a Cause club.”

CAC leader Alillia Bowden says she used a resource sheet that the 2020 CAC leaders created to help find service opportunities.

Zoe Bishop Class of 2022, CAC Leader

“I believe that one of the biggest community needs at the start of the pandemic was free tutoring opportunities. When the pandemic hit, schools handled remote learning differently. Because of this, some students were left with virtual schooling experiences that were more asynchronous than synchronous. While some kids handled this well, others struggled. With 1-1 or group tutoring, I believe that students were able to advance their knowledge and build a connection with someone while being away from in-person learning.”

“When the pandemic started, I began tutoring a 3rd grader with the Together Tutoring program which was created to provide free online tutoring for K-8 students in all subjects so they did not fall behind in their education during the pandemic. I also continued to tutor Seattle Academy students in math and chemistry but we switched to tutoring over Zoom.”

Although in-person community service opportunities have declined significantly because of the Covid-19 pandemic, CAC leader Zoe Bishop says, “it opened up opportunities for virtual and online volunteering to happen. While it is a different experience being online, one of the benefits that I found was that you could volunteer and connect with others all over the world.”

Nat Shephard Class of 2025, CAC Member

“The greatest need I have witnessed during the pandemic has been the need for food.”

“A specific thing I have done recently was help deliver packets of food to Seattle schools for children to take home so they have food over the weekend.”

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Athletics

Asa Gilmore, Class of 2023, in a wrestling match during senior night in the Upper School Gym.