Officially, LGC stands for “Lessmeister Greenawalt Company” which represents our co-founders. Unofficially, LGC stands for a few things, including “Leaders Growing Communities.”
Leaders Growing Communities became an unofficial tagline at LGC because of our commitment to supporting the 40+ local communities we’re fortunate to be a part of. We try to find ways to give back whether it’s through partnerships, donations, or volunteering.
Every full-time employee at LGC can take one paid day off each year to volunteer with an organization of their choice. Recently Brianna – Data & Reporting Specialist at LGC – had the opportunity to work with 4th graders from Avon, IN on a mystery sensory box activity during one of their environment days at the Avon Outdoor Learning Center. Below Brianna answers a few questions about her volunteer day experience.
Leaders Growing Communities | Learn About Brianna’s Recent Volunteer Day
How did you get connected with the Avon Outdoor Learning Center?
My husband took over as the coordinator of the Outdoor Learning Center (OLC) this past September. While he works for the school system, managing/cleaning/running the OLC is heavily volunteer based. May is their busiest month and he needed volunteers almost every day to run activities for their various field trips.
How did you set up the sensory box?
I had several items found in the OLC or nature in general (raccoon skull, mink pelt, rocks, snakeskin, leaves, wood, etc.). The box had holes on either side for the kids to put their hands in and feel the object and use descriptive words and phrases to explain what they were feeling to their classmates. After three students described it, the class would tell me their guesses and then we’d do a big reveal.
What was the kid’s reaction?
They were very inquisitive and used interesting descriptors, it was quite funny. (Someone described the raccoon skull as “crunchy.”) Obviously, once we’d get to the pelt and the skull, the kids would get more excited trying to figure it out or crowding around the table to touch the items after they were revealed. I was super nervous that my activity would be boring, but throughout the day they would tell the next station’s leader all about it and how much they loved it. It ended up being a huge success!
What did you enjoy about this volunteer day?
The kids were too funny with their guesses and excitement. I loved how even the “cool” kids weren’t too cool to be slightly scared of putting their hands in the box. Seeing the kids out in nature and enjoying it as well as the wonderful resource that is the Avon Outdoor Learning Center was great – recess is good and all, but hiking through the woods and feeling a real raccoon skull is not something that a lot of kids get to experience. I can’t wait to help out in the future.
We hope this Leaders Growing Communities article inspired you to help out! To learn more about the Avon Outdoor Learning Center (including how to get involved), click here.