The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science highly values service, even naming it as one of the four centralized values. This coming Wednesday, Oct. 19, while the juniors will take the mandated PSAT, the seniors will spend the day giving back to the community of Columbus. The senior class officers planned four different activities for senior service day this year.

One activity is field day at the Columbus Boys and Girls Club where several events have been scheduled, including a wheelbarrow race, kickball and even popsicles.

Senior Class President Mayukh Datta said he is “really excited about this because it is a cool way to make sure that the kids have a fun day and that they get a chance to stress relieve.”

Another activity planned for seniors to interact with local youths is tutoring at Columbus Middle School. There will be morning and afternoon shifts for students to work on data collection with 6th-8th graders. This will consist of activities such as paper airplanes, food coloring dispersion and rubber band shooting.

Further planned activities include clean-up at the MSMS engineering lab and at the Riverwalk. Students at the engineering lab will be working with a safety coordinator from Cooper Tires to organize and get the lab up to safety standards following regulations.

 The Student Environmental Awareness League (SEAL) Club helped plan the trip to the Riverwalk. Ariel Williams, who is both Senior Class Secretary and SEAL Vice President, elaborates that, “We will be providing manual services in the form of collecting trash from along the central pavilion as well as around two miles into the River Walk. This will help to maintain the area as a safe and beautiful place to exercise and relax.”

Williams adds, “I believe this particular activity shows how dedicated our school is, especially SEAL, to collectively understanding and resisting degradation of our planet based on waste and litter.

SEAL secretary Claudia Vial, who will be participating in the Riverwalk clean-up, says, “These school-wide community service projects are one of my favorite parts of MSMS. I’m so excited to give back to the community that has become my second home.”