Making a difference in the community doesn’t come with an age requirement, and students at Glenwood Springs Middle School are proving it. 

The culmination of the first ever Better World Week and the eighth annual GSMS Better World Day came together on Friday, May 2, as Glenwood Springs Middle Schoolers offered out a broad helping hand. 

The projects were thought of and carried out by the students. From reading at Sopris Elementary and GSES, volunteering time at LiftUp and Habitat ReStore and donating pet food to Petco, students made vast efforts to support their community. 

“We had kids everywhere working on really cool projects,” GSMS Principal Eric Olsen said. “We try to give back to our community in many different ways. We had kids reading at local elementary school, beautification projects all over town, and more.”

GSMS Dean of Culture Rob Buirgy, who has been at the school since before the event’s inception, said the day has become a staple of the GSMS schedule because of the way it motivates the kids. 

“It’s student driven the whole way through,” he said. “The kids work together in their crew classes to identify a problem in the community and then try to figure out a way to be agents of change and really make something better.”

The middle school was one of hundreds of Expeditionary Learning (EL) schools to show their community support on May 2. EL is a non-profit organization that is connected to hundreds of schools across the country, helping educators nurture student’s love for learning and develop the next generation. 

Expeditionary Learning lays out their vision on its website as “A place where students of all backgrounds and identities have the power to exceed the highest standards — as scholars and as community members.”

Better World Day is a yearly event initiated by EL, but driven by the students throughout the whole process. The school has participated eight years running, and their first year principal, Olsen, was counting down the seconds to see the excitement on his student’s faces. 

“Better World Day was one of those things that everyone kept saying ‘just wait until you see it,'” he said. “The kids really and the whole school really take a lot of pride in our participation.”

Buirgy said kids take to the event for many different reasons. For some, it could be because they enjoy giving back. For others, a day spent on a hands-on project can spark an interest that the student wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. 

“No two kids are the same,” he said. “Some kids may struggle when they are at a desk all day, so this just gives them the chance to shine in a different way. Our teachers always come back raving about how much they learned about their students, and how doing something differently can have a lot of benefits.”

GSMS’ Better World Day has gained some notoriety in its near-decade run. Now that the school has a good system, Olsen’s first Better World Day went over without a hitch. 

“It’s kind of a self-sustaining effort that only needs a little refresh and coordination every year,” Olsen said. 

Buirgy, who has seen the event’s growth throughout its entire life span, agreed with Olsen. 

“Because we have done it for a while now, I think we have a good process of how we introduce it to our kids, how we support our children, and what we should focus our projects on,” he said. “There were two kids who were very involved who are now in high school that returned on Friday to spend the day with us. That was really cool to see the impact we made on them.”