The Public Service Practicum class took their first field trip ever since the start of COVID-19 going to the Round Park District and the Illinois Food Bank with students packing over 4900 pounds of food equating to 3700 meals on Sep 15, 2021.

Tim Sermak is the teacher of the class. Sermak took his students to these places because he wanted the class to get to know one another and let them be in some sort of community service. At first Sermak thought the field trip was going to go apprehensively in how students would work and interact with each other as in leadership, engaging and disengaging. Senior Emily Larrivee figured that the field trip would be fun because it was not anything academic or strenuous, just a fun day in class. Senior Haley Han believed the field trip would be awkward since she didn’t really talk to anyone in class, and everyone else would be in their own group.

“(The class is about) developing leadership and project management skills while doing work in service to the school and larger communities,” Sermak said

After the Round Lake Park District, Sermak’s highlight was watching students struggle with an activity called Traffic Jam that turned out to be unsolvable. Larrivee’s highlight at the park district was an activity where students created a trust circle, where someone was in the middle and the students around them had to catch them as they fell back and try to keep them up and she also liked the traffic jam activity. Han’s highlight at the park district was that she wasn’t alone the whole time because she got to talk to a lot of people and have nice conversations.

“It was good to see them preserving and working together to solve the problem and not give up,” Sermak said. 

The students also enjoyed the activities at the Round Lake Park District.

“Yeah I would definitely say so because it gave you an opportunity to talk with each other for a longer period of time in a non-school setting,” Larrivee said.

Following  lunch was the Illinois Food Bank in Waukegan, where students packed over 3700 meals equaling more than 4900 pounds of food. Sermak enjoyed watching students work with people they usually didn’t and them feeling good about what they are doing. Larrivee and Han both agreed that the food bank brought them closer with classmates they usually don’t interact with, and if you make something a game and be willing to do something, the result will turn out better than anticipated. Barb C. of the Illinois Food Bank hosted the students at the food bank, and she was overjoyed with the results of the students’ effort in packing meals and teamwork and the amount they had accomplished in just two hours. 

“The point of that was to have kids see that community service doesn’t have to be this thing that you just do because you have to ‘get the hours’ for whatever service is; it’s more about being a part of something bigger, contributing to the larger picture and having fun doing it,” Sermak said. 

“You guys packed 4900 pounds of food for us that’ll provide 3700 meals to feed our neighbors. You guys rocked it today, hard workers, you guys were quick, efficient, and polite. Please come again!” said Barb C.