Students are always encouraged to do community service, but in a rural county, this can be difficult. Two Pride members, Cason Dulaney and Zachary Coleman solved this by creating The Lion Pride Community Service Club.

  Dulaney and Coleman founded the club to improve their county in ways that are different from services offered on asynchronous days.

  “I feel like most of the community outreach at the high school was hard to fit into my schedule and I wanted to find something that worked for all students,” Dulaney said.

  Teachers Micky Lynch Conner and Hannah Bupp decided to sponsor The Pride Club and help students benefit their area.

  “I chose to sponsor the club because it is student-led and I knew I could count on the students forming it,” Bupp said.

   Coleman and Dulaney knew that sitting around and doing nothing would not give them opportunities for outreach projects.

 “I wanted to better my community, and I feel like in order to do so, you have to be the change and make it happen,” Coleman said.

  The Lion Pride Club is taking their first big step by having a book drive on October 31 to November 11. Book collection boxes will be on every floor in the central cut-through. Books must be new or like new and appropriate for children. Students will be able to gain service hours when they are shopping for books.

“We are hosting a book drive with the Richmond Children’s Museum to gain books for children in Central Virginia,” Dulaney said.

  Students should join the club to earn community service hours for college. Colleges look at community service as a way to look inside students’ lives and show who they are. Students who join the club will also be able to show colleges that they care about others and can use this opportunity to show others their passion and skills.

“It’s an awesome way to earn service hours by doing easy things that still benefit the community,” Dulaney said.

If you are interested in joining, the Google Classroom code is infhupd.