Monroe High School staff and students will be flooding the community in their vibrant shirts as a symbolic gesture of the bright future of Monroe High School, the School District, and the local community as they participate in the 12th annual Day of Service tradition. A favorite day for many, this outreach engages over 700 MHS staff and students with an opportunity to give back to the community with over 2,100 service hours in one day!
Day of Service 2025
This year’s event will be kicked off with excitement as staff and students rally in the gymnasium to hear a powerful message from Colony Brands Foundation President John Baumann about the importance of volunteering, helping others, and the impact each person can have on our community. Following this message, crews will be released by MHS Principal Jeriamy Jackson to report to their work sites for the next three hours. This year, we are excited to announce that lunch is being sponsored by Monroe Morning Optimists, Monroe Kiwanis, and Performance Foods. Their generosity will allow every student to eat free after their morning of work.
Students will then engage in a variety of service activities with site coordinators and MHS staff. This event provides the unique opportunity for staff and students to interact with each other and work side-by-side in a different dynamic from what is typically experienced within the walls of MHS. In place of academia, students are challenged to apply themselves in different ways and learn skills that they may have been unfamiliar with previously. Each site has unique needs, and a crew of students are being sent to meet them. Some jobs require pulling weeds, spreading mulch, planting flowers, or moving rocks. Other jobs require cleaning and organizing. Students will complete painting projects, wash windows, and pick up litter. While some students walk to and from the job sites, others will be bussed thanks to the generosity of Lamer’s Transportation Services.
Day of Service is About More That Just One Day
For many staff, this is a highlight of the year. Working alongside students and getting dirty is fun, invigorating, and builds bonds that are different from those made in the classroom. Students and staff learn a lot about each other’s skills and strengths outside of the classroom as they roll up their sleeves together for our community. Students grow in their understanding of what it means to give to others without expecting anything in return. Students take pride in their work as they walk away from a space, leaving it in better shape than when they arrived. Finally, students experience what it means to work as a team to accomplish a goal and complete a task set before them. Teachers strengthen their relationships with students and forge new connections in ways only DOS can bring. Every day, the MHS staff work to promote strong character within students, and this special day further promotes excellence, hard work, and empathy through giving back to the Monroe community.
Thank you!
A big thank you goes out to everyone involved in this event, which is only possible each year because of their commitment to our students and our community. Thank you to Colony Brands for sponsoring shirts for every MHS student and adult participant. The sight of the students, faculty, staff, and bus drivers wearing the official DOS shirt is inspiring and unifying. It demonstrates our commitment and sets us up to accomplish great things with the day before us. Thank you to John Baumann for rallying the staff and students to do the great work that takes place. Gratitude is owed to Lamer’s Bus Service for organizing transportation routes and providing bussing and drivers to and from those sites that are not walkable. Thank you to Monroe Morning Optimists, Monroe Kiwanis, and Performance Foods for providing a non-restricting lunch to the entire student body. Also, we appreciate Walmart providing water to our students and staff while they are out on the job sites. Finally, to our community partners, MSD administration, MHS staff, and MHS students, thank you for bringing to life Day of Service 2025.
This year we are blessed with the generosity of following organizations, groups, and community partners in the Monroe Community:
Abraham Lincoln School
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Green County
Bountiful Hope Gardens
Cadiz Springs Park
Cheesemaker Booster Club
City of Monroe — Project Rain Water
City of Monroe Rail Painting
DNR Badger Trail Clean-up
Green County Child Advocacy Center
Green County Courthouse
Green County Fair Grounds
Green County Family YMCA
Green County Food Pantry
Green County Highway Department
Monroe High School and Athletic Department
Green County Humane Society
Green County Veterans Memorial Park
Green Haven Family Advocates
Historic Cheesemaking Center
Kiwanis Youth Cabin
Lamers Bus Service
Monroe Arts Center
Monroe Clinic Hospital
Monroe Golf Club
Monroe Health Services
Monroe Main Street
Monroe Middle School
Monroe Parks Dept
Monroe Senior Center
Monroe Theater Guild
Northside Elementary School
Parkside Elementary School
Pleasant View Nursing Home
SSM Health Monroe Hospice Home
St. Clare Friedenshiem
St. John’s United Church of Christ
St. Victor’s School
Thrivent Financial Services
Turner Hall/Wisc Cheese Corp
Union Presbyterian Church
— Tim Brown is a special education teacher and the Monroe High School Day of Service Coordinator. He can be reached at timothybrown@monroe.k12.wi.us.
