Lehman Catholic High School in Sidney is getting students out into the world

Last year, Lehman Catholic High School held a Day of Service, where every single enrolled student went out into the surrounding communities of Piqua, Dayton, Troy and Sidney to volunteer.

“They were boots on the ground getting involved,” Molly Johnston, enrollment director for Lehman Catholic High School, says. “That was a really fun experience for everyone.”

This Day of Service was the first full school event that Lehman Catholic has put on, and it was also the first of what administrators and students hope to be a tradition.

The idea came from a group effort of the administration, and one of Lehman’s theology teachers, Jackie Homan, helped the school get in contact with volunteer sites.

One of the places they volunteered at was Eagles’ Wings Stable Inc., where Johnston personally went with students. Eagles’ Wings is a facility in Piqua that provides riding lessons for people with various ranges of disabilities and mobility issues.

“We went out there and did the dredge work of cleaning stalls, weeding gardens, bailing hay,” Johnston says. “All of that heavy lifting that takes a lot of time for these organizations.”

Other students went to Mercy Mission House Emergency Shelter and completed projects or tasks that were headaches for those working at the organization day to day.

Additionally, students visited grade schools in the area, including Piqua Catholic School, Holy Angels Catholic School in Sidney and St. Patrick Catholic School in Troy.

They also visited Fountain Park in Piqua, Agape Distribution in Sidney, Miami County Right to Life in Troy and Rustic Hope in Russia.

“It was really neat to see the kids come back off the buses and they were tired and exhausted and sweaty, but they were smiling, and I think they felt like it was a well spent day,” Johnston says.

Johnston says that many kids were excited about trying to get involved with these organizations outside of schools, and there were a few students who did.

This school year, Lehman Catholic will be repeating the day of service, and it is planning to visit the same places and programs.

In a small-town area, it can be difficult to find volunteer opportunities for students or adults, so setting this foundation for volunteer work and letting kids know where they can volunteer sets a good precedent.

“Our students have the context now and we have the relationships with these organizations,” Johnston says. “I feel like we could call most of them this week and say, ‘Hey, you want some kids to come out?’ and they would be ready and happy to receive us.”

“This day of service has really generated some good conversations around doing more than just one day of service,” Brad Zimmerman, Lehman Catholic principal, says. “Because as the Lord teaches us, we’re doing service all the time, so we’re talking about other ideas on how we can make this more of a frequent year-long project.”

Zimmerman hopes to not only get students out in the community, but also in Lehman Catholic’s partner schools. Lehman Catholic also just restarted its service-learning program to teach skills and support some of the staff in the building.

“A lot of our students benefit from having value and seeing they’re able and capable of doing some really good work out in the world,” Johnston adds. “That’s a good message and a good thing for our students to understand right now.”

Lehman Catholic also a program called Team Leadership Core (TLC) geared toward juniors and seniors to learn leadership skills and qualities. TLC completes volunteer work throughout the year and has speakers come in and speak about leadership, community and what they do.

As a private Catholic high school, Johnston says that she feels a unique responsibility to set up students to be community members that give back.

“All of our interactions with our students are kind of through that lens,” she says.

“From our perspective, we’re called to be the hands and feet of Christ. And that’s what we do. If our students can graduate from Lehman and walk out the front door confident that they have a purpose and that they’re capable and able to do good work out in the world, then that’s a huge win for us.”

Lehman Catholic also sends students on faith retreats in Damascus in Centerburg, the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics, Kairos Prison Ministry of Ohio in Columbus and The Retreat House in Celina.

“Being in a small community, we’re connected to different companies and businesses and we’re about to send these kids out,” Johnston adds.

Zimmerman, who attended Lehman Catholic, says these retreats were perfect to get away from the noise of life. “I had 76 kids I graduated with in my class, and I felt like I knew all of them, but I didn’t until after Kairos,” he says. “It was such an amazing experience that brought us all closer together and really made as a family.”

Last year, Lehman Catholic had 38 graduates, making it perfect for all students to get to know each other.

“Our kids really rally around each other, in good times and in bad,” Zimmerman says. “They do a good job supporting one another.”