Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School held its seventh annual Day of Service and Love on Friday, Feb. 14 to reflect on and heal from the 2018 tragedy. Students and staff could participate in various service projects as a means of connecting with peers and giving back to the community. The day concluded with everyone in attendance viewing a memorial for the 17 victims.

MSD students contributed to several on-campus service projects, such as PB&J sandwich making, coffee sleeve decorating, main courtyard beautification, card-making for the first responders’ breakfast, blanket making and friendship bracelet making. Each project was hosted by an MSD staff member.

Best Buddies club sponsor Coral Bachen hosted bracelet making in room 167; she taught students how to create bracelets using the materials she provided. Participants were encouraged to make bracelets for themselves and their friends.

“I think that friendship bracelets were the best activity for [Best Buddies] because we really want to encourage lots of friendships and inclusion, and today, Day of Service and Love, is the perfect opportunity to do that,” Bachen said.

Culinary arts teacher Ashley Kurth sponsored the PB&J sandwich making event in her culinary classroom. The sandwiches were donated to homeless shelters, a process that was organized by DECA. About 25 DECA students participated in the event by donating supplies and putting together the sandwiches.

“I think it was pretty successful; I think we made over 500 sandwiches,” English teacher Amy Carr said.

The Makerspace Club hosted a blanket making project, during which students made blankets from fleece that they cut strips of and knotted. The activity was done in collaboration with Project Linus.

Project Linus is a national organization that was started in 1995 with the goal of providing, “love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans.” Rina Edelstein is the local chapter coordinator for Palm Beach and Broward County. She has worked with MSD’s Makerspace Club for three years for the Day of Service and Love.

“Those blankets are going to hospitals, domestic abuse centers and homeless shelters in Palm Beach and Broward County,” Edelstein said. “Once in a while if we get blankets that are too warm, then we will ship them up north. Individual students sometimes do their community service projects, so they will make their blankets at home and then they’ll donate them.”

The students who signed up to make friendship bracelets with the Makerspace Club on the Day of Service and Love were taught a chevron pattern. The students who guided the activity were senior Shree Choksi and sophomore Natalia Dzielnicka.

While some projects helped students make a positive contribution to their school, family or friends, other events focused on improving students’ mindfulness. A Tai Chi yoga session was held in the gymnasium; the Mind & Body Club partnered with Tai Chi instructor Dr. Fields to make the event happen.

MSD yoga instructor Stephanie Hawison-Villanueva additionally hosted a stress-relieving yoga session in room 420 that was focused on improving mindfulness and relaxing the body.

“I think yoga is the perfect representation of thinking in-between mindfulness and remembering to be kind to others and yourself,” Hawison-Villanueva said. “I thought it was a good day to do it.”

Students engaged in a nearly hour-long yoga session before spending the rest of the morning making cards and doing other creative crafts.

Other MSD students were even lined up along the entrance of the cafeteria, where the first responders’ breakfast took place, with the assignment of cheering for every first responder who walked through the doors. They applauded them to make them feel welcomed and appreciated.

“It’s important to make the first responders feel loved and appreciated for all that they do for us,” sophomore Elisa Hernandez Gil said. “It means a lot that we get to put a smile on their face today with something as simple as cheering for them.”

Volunteers and MSD’s Latinos In Action class provided free breakfast and coffee to Parkland and Coral Springs emergency officials, as well as other first responders in the Broward County area. MSD students also distributed thank you cards and goody bags. The goody bags contained hand sanitizer, band aids, tissues, socks, special pins and candy.

“We just wanted to decorate cute little sleeves, and we wanted to make meaningful cards to them [first responders], and hopefully it will make their day, and we can show our love somehow,” Vice President of Service for LIA 1 Ana Emilia Farah said.

The Hard Rock Hotel sponsored the breakfast, as well as the raffle event that proceeded.

“I decided to come on the day of service because I felt kind of obligated to do this. I wanted to be here for the community,” sophomore Elana Kurman said.

In room 426 National Honor Society and Mujeres Unidas co-sponsored an event focused on making hygiene bags for women’s shelters. Attendees decorated hygiene pouches with sweet messages and drawings.

“We wanted to make a nice project to sponsor, and I had the idea to carry out a donation drive with toiletries and decorating hygiene bags,” NHS Co-Service Chair and Mujeres Unidas president Mariana Rojas Ramos said.

Members of both clubs had decided to join the activity, as well as numerous teachers, including social studies teacher Sofia Capezza.

“We’re making hygiene tote bags for the women’s shelter, and I think that’s a great cause,” Capezza said.

Students were also able to participate in service projects in Marjory’s Garden. These included bench building, painting, mulching and more.

The garden was formed in response to the Feb. 14 tragedy and has become an outlet for both students and teachers to heal and give back to the community. Students come to the garden every Sunday to help grow, maintain and expand the garden.

Generally, the garden has the highest turnout in volunteers, with sponsors having to cap the total number at 100 students. This year, however, only about 60 students participated in garden activities. They nonetheless were able to contribute greatly to the beautification of the garden. Participants helped to build two new benches, as well as mulch all of the pathways. They also put new walls onto the tool sheds to replace the old and broken ones.

The Day of Service and Love is one of the most important days of the year for the Garden Club, as it is one of the days where the crew is the largest and is able to make the most improvements.

In order to attend the Day of Service and Love, students had to register their attendance via a Microsoft Form, and sign up for the service projects they would participate in. Students who did not register were automatically excused from school for the day.