On Saturday, Nov. 7, students loaded up the bus and departed to Carver Elementary, of the St. Louis Public Schools District. This year, the John Prentis III chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) headed to Carver elementary to clean, paint, and put together gifts for teachers and faculty.

“Dr. Schwamb’s church, Midtown Church, had already worked with Carver on a number of projects and knew their community outreach coordinator. Through conversations with their community outreach coordinator, we learned that Carver had several projects we could help with,” said Gina Butterfield, WCA biology teacher and co-advisor of NHS.

Over 80 students, parent volunteers, and WCA faculty, participated in the project.

“The satisfaction of helping people out is always so great,” said Avery Engelmeyer, NHS member and WCA sophomore. However, the word “project” does not describe the outing, the trip could be better described as a group of students giving back to the community with smiles spreading across their faces.

“With a team the size that we had, we were able to deep-clean the classrooms and paint the gym,” said Dr. Sara Schwamb, WCA english teacher and co-advisor of NHS.

The teachers and students were the sole motivation for students. While at Carver, students got their hands dirty while mopping floors, washing carpets, and scrubbing down windows.  Westminster students and chaperones did not treat these tasks as chores, they completed what needed to be done with a positive and humble mindset.

“The teachers were very happy that their rooms and carpets were so clean,” said Dr. Schwamb.