WALKER — While getting ready for the new schoolyear and football season, some of Walker High’s football team is learning how to serve the community thanks to service activities their new coach is encouraging.
“Something we’re kind of big about is serving the community, servant leadership,” said Walker High’s Head Football Coach Chris Harrell. Using inspiration from Jesus’ sermon telling the crowd to go the extra mile, Harrell hopes to help train the teens in more than just football through the “2 Mile Crew.”
“So we’re doing everything right from practice to just the way we carry ourselves, to actually getting out and serving. So we sought out to do ‘serve days’ throughout the course of the summer,” Harrell explained.
Last month, Walker High football team seniors went to Healing Place Church in Denham Springs to help clean and assist the church. Just this week, the juniors—along with seniors who missed the first event—visited the Walker Police Department to help clean the police car units, inside and out.
Next week, Harrell said the sophomores on the team are going to be on campus helping clean faculty and staff’s vehicles along with assisting with moving items into classrooms. Each project is meant to last only a couple of hours.
The 2 Mile Crew is voluntary and optional, Harrell said, but many of the teens on the team have chosen to participate. He hopes that this service program opens the doors to future projects, including more during the school year, and encourages the teens how to lead and serve others.
“It’s important to show the kids servant leadership and doing things the right way, and that’s the foundation which we’re building in the program. You know, it’s not just about football. It’s so much more, and at the end of it, we’re just hoping that as the kids graduate and get done with the program, they’re better husbands and fathers and just better people in life.”
While doing the service work means a longer day for the students, Harrell said the teens are giving him good feedback.
“I think they enjoy it. I think they see—I mean, you know how it is when you do something great, you get that good feeling on the inside, and the people that we’ve helped so far have been really appreciative.”
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