Battery Creek High School Volunteer at Hunting Island State Park

Twenty-eight Battery Creek High School students earned community service hours this month by collecting litter at Hunting Island State Park. A Take Pride In America sponsor and under the direction of Friends of Hunting Island State Park, Karen Whitehead, Litter Director.

They filled 30 garbage bags with plastic bottles, cans, paper and old clothing, and one student found the cover of an outboard motor. Freshmen and sophomores are required to complete between 40 and 50 hours of community service this year to help the high school earn designation as an accredited International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, which serves 11- to 16-year-old students, said Julie Petroff, the school's coordinator for the program. Battery Creek already offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which gives upperclassman an opportunity to earn college credit in high school.

"They had a blast," Petroff said. "I think teenagers can be very self-
centered, not in a bad way so much, but they are really into themselves. This kind of gets them out of that and starts them on thinking about other people and thinking about the environment."