PINETOWN — The senior class of a local high school is currently participating in a senior project that has students giving back to the community.

Northside High School’s senior class is undergoing a variety of assignments to illustrate their community involvement, said Megan Doss, an English IV teacher at NHS. The service project, dubbed the Community Project, was developed by Doss and Janet Yonally, another English IV teacher at the school, after Beaufort County Schools got rid of its county-wide senior project, Doss said.

“Myself and another English teacher at Northside developed this project when Beaufort County decided to get rid of the county-wide senior project,” Doss said. “We wanted to do one that would focus on community service for Northside High School students to develop a tangible way for them to give back to the community.”

Doss said the students were tasked with identifying a specific need within the community based on either a personal experience or something they have noticed growing up. Some students are partnering up, some are working alone, but each student or group is now writing a research paper, the first phase of the project, which identifies the need they have chosen to feature for the project. After having gathered the research, students are now conducting a 15-hour service project, Doss said.

Doss and Yonally have asked each student to document the service project through the use of a scrapbook, a photo album or a video, providing evidence they did, in fact, participate in a community service project, Doss said. There are 67 students participating in the senior project, with about 50 projects expected to be completed by the end of November. The projects range from students working with the animal shelter and volunteering at nursing homes to some students becoming involved with Ruth’s House, Beaufort County’s domestic abuse shelter, Doss said.

One pair of students from Doss’s class, Savannah Bunn and Jethzabel Alonso, are working with three different elementary schools in the area to compare literacy rates with socioeconomic status. The two will organize a book drive for students whose families are financially unable to purchase books for them. The two seniors have been in close contact with a teacher from each school, who will help them decide upon two to three students from each class who will receive the books acquired through the drive, Doss said.

“We just really loved the idea of what the senior project gave in terms of making them do something,” Doss said. “We just really wanted to focus with our kids on the service end of things. It’s important for them to have connections with their community and teach them to be contributing citizens. Jan and I really feel as though this project has made these kids really look for ways to contribute and give back and express an outward desire to help in the community. It’s made them a lot more grateful and maybe given them a sense of pride in the county they live.”

Doss said the students will present their projects before they go home for Christmas to a board of teachers and their classmates.