Lessons learned in the classroom are great to have, but a hands-on experience dealing with helping others can be just as valuable.

Sixth graders from Ashworth Middle School (AMS) took part in its inaugural service day last week, visiting several community staples.

AMS Principal Marc Feuerbach said he would like to start this year off with the sixth grade, and then add another grade each year until the entire middle school is giving back to the community.

“We want our students to focus on academics, but also to focus on the community they live in,” said Feuerbach. “We want them to grow up to be leaders.”

Feuerbach said that it is important to form well-rounded students, and to do that sometimes students have to be taken out of the classroom.

“I want to expose our kids to what is going on in the community,” said Feuerbach.

There were 25 to 30 students at eight different locations, which included Gordon Hospital, Morning Pointe, Sonoraville Recreation Department, VAC, Calhoun Recreation Department, Boys and Girls Club, New Echota and Ashworth Middle School.

Activities included cleaning, organizing and other projects the individual facilities needed to help teach the students about giving back to their community.

At the conclusion of the day, the students came back to Ashworth to relax on the soccer field for a lunch break, and to reflect on the day’s events.

“It went really well,” said Feuerbach. “You never know how something is going to go when it’s the first time around.”

He went on to say that the students worked hard and that the community really came together to make this happen.