Students Help in Oklahoma

Helping in the community is a long-standing tradition at Clearwater Academy International and this week it has continued with a group of students accompanying the Executive Director, Jim Zwers, to Oklahoma. He said, “Helping in these types of disasters is life changing for our students. They experience the difference one individual can make in a time of need, which creates a person who is willing, able and enthusiastic to help in the future.”

All High School students are required to do community work to qualify for graduation from Clearwater Academy International. Every day students are helping in their local community in many different ways and in their areas of interest. However, when a large scale disaster happens, the students are there to help too. This tradition began in 2005 after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and has continued through the years, including the cleanup in Alabama after the tornadoes.

The team of nine students left for Oklahoma on June 13th for 10 days. Several of them are certified graduates of Clearwater Academy’s CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program; a national program that educates people about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills.