The Black and White

by Will McColl

The Urban Sociology classes, led by Mr. SanGiovanni, are given opportunities to participate in community service projects during school hours. This includes a number of different projects such as community cleanups, toy drives, and food drives. So far this year, the classes have raised food donations for West Bay Community Action on Jefferson Boulevard, which operates a food pantry that provides free staples of food to those in need. The Urban Sociology class has always had a community service component, but Mr. SanGiovanni started this food drive five years ago. “When I took over, I thought a community food drive would be a great first-quarter project we could work on,” Mr SanGiovanni explains. 

The classes, which happen to be all seniors, stick to Ward One, the area surrounding Pilgrim. Students hand out flyers to residents and are given a date to put out food, then the students return and drive around to pick up the food. Sometimes, students will even help stock shelves at West Bay when clients might be waiting outside the door. The whole goal of the project is for students to see how a food drive goes from start to finish. Later on, students reflect on the project.

Mr. SanGiovanni also says, “My hope is that when students do their written reflection on the project, they’ll realize that there is a need out there and that helping out in times like this before the holidays is a good thing to do as a citizen.” 

The Urban Sociology class allows responsible students to help the community while staying out of a cooped-up school during its class time. The class allows the students within to not only have more freedom than they would normally have, but also to grow as students, citizens, and people.