Life’s a beach during community service trip

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, March 28, 2023

UMATILLA — A fun opportunity for Umatilla High School’s National Honor Society to provide community service has continued for eight years at Twin Rocks Friends Camp.

With the exception of 2021, a group of 20 to 30 students and a handful of advisors/chaperones have headed to Rockaway Beach each year to help spruce up the camp since 2015. This year’s March 9-12 trip included 24 students and four adults, Nancy Swarat, Umatilla’s NHS advisor, said.

“It’s always been a very positive partnership that we’ve had with them,” LeAnn Beebe, Twin Rocks guest services assistant, said. “It’s a very helpful group.”

With a longtime connection with Twin Rocks, Swarat inquired about doing a possible community service project. She was aware that some camps offer food and lodging in exchange for volunteer work.

“After finding out from my administration that the school would pay for transportation, working at the beach appealed to lots of students,” she said. “They look forward to our group coming each year and are very appreciative of the boost that we give to their regular staff.”

With chapters across the country, NHS members gain knowledge and skills to become positive leaders in their schools, communities and beyond. Swarat said the organization’s four pillars include scholarship, service, leadership and character.

“Students mostly know about scholarship and leadership,” she said. “They need help imagining what service and character look like in their own lives and providing an organized service opportunity is one way that they can visualize themselves being useful to others.”

Students provide manpower

In addition to their work at Twin Rocks, Swarat said the student group — which also includes Key Club members and others with administrative approval — has volunteered four times at Cove Christian Camp as well as helping with small projects with the city of Umatilla.

Beebe said the group works alongside the camp’s groundskeepers to perform such activities as clearing brush, planting small trees, transplanting ferns and grooming trails. They work two eight-hour days.

“It’s amazing because they bring 25 to 35 kids. Just from an hourly standpoint, that’s 480 man hours,” Beebe said. “They are really a big help in getting the camp ready before summer comes.”

During the evenings, Beebe said students can use the camp’s facilities, including the gymnasium and a meeting room for group activities. Swarat said they can play board games, make s’mores around a campfire and take walks on the beach.

“A lot of them haven’t had exposure to the coast before so being in a different environment is fun for the kids, too,” Beebe said.

Also, Swarat said, the students enjoy sitting around the tables for meals. In addition to eating and visiting, they work together to clean up afterward. Nestor Ochoa, a student who went on the recent trip, said it was a good opportunity to spend time with friends and provide a useful service.

“I gained fun memories and had a lot of fun doing the work,” Ochoa said.

And that’s music to Beebe’s ears. While she said volunteer groups can sometimes be “tricky,” the Umatilla group comes well-prepared and ready to work.

“It’s always been really positive for us and it’s been a great partnership,” she said. “We want to keep it going as long as we can.”