Every year at Dream Middle School in Royal Palm Beach, the faculty challenges students to think outside the box and find a way to help their community.
Thirteen-year-old student Jack Donovan, who has a passion for helping others, was motivated to get creative and inspire his classmates to feel the satisfaction of helping their community.
Donovan organized a group of students to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. The students assembled at 8:30 a.m. on Plymouth Road in West Palm Beach to participate in building and creating a home for a deserving family. Students and even some parents turned out to take part in this all-day event for a good cause.
“Everyone was excited to have a reason to get together to make a positive impact on their community,” Donovan said. “We were able to spend time together on a Saturday, working, having fun and accomplishing something important. I wanted everyone to experience how good it feels to help others — and we got to have fun in the process. We even got to meet and work with the family whose home we were helping build. It was really nice to get to see the people whose lives we were touching.”
Donovan has also participated in the annual St. Baldrick’s Day event for the past two years. The event involves the volunteers to shave their heads in order to raise money to fund research to cure childhood cancer. His hair is now growing back, but he’s ready to do it again next year.
Donovan also joins friends once a month to serve at a soup kitchen in Riviera Beach and was an assistant coach for his sister’s basketball team last fall.
The Dream Middle School faculty recently selected Donovan as one of the recipients of this year’s “Extraordinary Minds” award, which recognizes students who excel in their academic efforts, show compassion for others and take initiative to make a difference in their community.
Donovan is proud of the award, but his real motivation is the satisfaction he feels by making a difference.
ABOVE: Jack Donovan and other Dream Middle School students at the Habitat for Humanity site.
