Buffalo Grove High School students all in for day of service

A funny thing happened to sixth-grader Vincent Diliberto on his way to lunch last week at Thomas Middle School in Arlington Heights. He and his friends found a line of students - 150 in all - from Buffalo Grove High School waiting to give high-fives to everyone who walked into that lunch period.

"That was sick," Vincent said, which in the preteen vernacular means "cool." "I mean I'm kind of surprised that they'd want to come here and spend time with us."

In all, the Buffalo Grove teens spent two hours at the school. They did everything from read and tutor in individual classrooms, to post notes on lockers encouraging students to "smile more" and "work hard."

Nearly all of the 150 students were alumni and they had chosen to return to their middle school as part of a massive "BG Gives Back" day of service.

"I love it," said Thomas world history teacher Katie Biewer. "I taught nearly all of these kids and having them help out in my classroom, well it just sparked conversation."

In all, more than 2,100 students from Buffalo Grove spread out across the community at 30 different sites in Cook and Lake counties.

Many were in schools, including Kirk School in Palatine, Ivy Hill, Miner, Riley, St. Peter's and Thomas schools in Arlington Heights, Cooper Middle School in Buffalo Grove, and Longfellow and London Middle School in Wheeling.

In Lake County, students volunteered at Reach Animal Shelter in Mundelein and at Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, while at Buffalo Grove High School itself students made blankets for children through the Linus Project, as well as wrote letters to deployed military members.

"It's a different way to give back to the community," said junior Olivia Morini of Arlington Heights, who spent her morning at Reach Animal Shelter. "You don't really think about animals when you think of service, but they don't get a ton of attention."

Mark Schaetzlein, assistant principal for student activities, says the day of giving is an extension of an initiative extending throughout Northwest Suburban High School District 214, which stresses the value of community service.

Prospect High School held a similar day in October that drew more than 200 students to participate, while Elk Grove High School is planning one for April.

In Buffalo Grove's case, the school has devoted one class period a month to service and leadership, where they discuss everything from passing judgment, success and social media, to just being nice and strengthening one's self confidence.

A committee of students, staff and administrators planned the service day, and even they were shocked at how it took off. For example, T-shirts they designed for the day drew more than 800 preorders, and then 2,100 students signed up to participate.

"The spirit of giving has just taken off," Schaetzlein said.

That spirit was evident at Thomas, where Buffalo Grove students clearly enjoyed their time building up the middle school students.

"Having gone into many of the classrooms and watching their interactions, I can tell you that it was a very positive day," said Thomas Principal Brian Kaye.

Buffalo Grove Principal Jeff Warble was impressed with the numbers of his students that wanted to return to their middle school.

"I hope they realize that they really can make a difference in the lives of these younger students, and that it opens their minds to service," Warble said. "Hopefully, they'll bring that spirit of service back to the Buffalo Grove community and back to the hallways of their school, where they can build up one another."