NATCHITOCHES – Third grade students at Zwolle Elementary School participating in the Leader In Me program selected the Northwestern State University Food Pantry as the focus of a community service project. The students hosted a cereal drive and collected 129 boxes of cereal for the Pantry, which is free to NSU and BPCC@NSU students.
“Leader in Me is used throughout the school to promote and build leadership in our students, staff and community,” said Marissa Ross, ZES coordinating teacher. “It is based on the seven habits of highly effective kids. Through the habits, students learn how to plan ahead, set goals, manage their time, be considerate of others and ultimately how to be a leader. This year, we decided to complete a service project to show students that not only can they be leaders at school and at home, but also in their community. We wanted to show our students that the smallest contributions add up and make an impact. We chose to do this cereal drive for the Northwestern Food Pantry because we wanted to help other students in our community. We recognize that this has been a challenging year for students of all ages, and we wanted to help as much as possible. Our students have really enjoyed the opportunity to help others and we hope to continue doing service project for many years to come.”
NSU Food Pantry student volunteers Jessica Mullican and Sheridan Duet traveled to Zwolle Elementary with Reatha Cox, director of Student Affairs, to collect the donation.
“It was the cutest thing ever, with these third graders saying, ‘Look what we did for you!’ They were so proud of themselves,” Cox said.
The NSU Food Pantry was established in 2015 to address food insecurity among university students. The Pantry is run by student volunteers and provides not only non-perishable food and kitchen items, but toiletries, cleaning supplies and personal care items at no charge.
