The Columbia Falls School District’s annual Bleed Blue Week was last week, but the motivating ethos of the event will continue for the rest of the year, students and faculty say.

The event originated at the high school several years ago, and has since grown to symbolize high school and community interdependence, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the bond by acknowledging community support and creating opportunities for students to give back.

Events at the high school included a “Straight A Breakfast” held for honorees and their parents, a music show highlighting student vocal talent, and a school assembly that honored community contributors like student body President Anna Pickard and former CFHS student Mailee Windauer, who created “Project WIND” (Walk In New Directions) which provided weekend meals for school kids in the summer. The assembly also showcased scholarship finalists, art show winners, drumline talent and even the basketball skill of faculty against students in a game of lightning.

But the main focus of the week occurred outside the high school, in the multiple civic engagement activities around town. These included high school students reading to elementary school classes, helping out senior citizens, volunteering at local organizations and businesses, and packing food for the district’s BackPack Program.

Columbia Falls High School Senior Alexi McNeely, who is hoping to get her dog grooming certificate after graduating, volunteered for kennel cleanup at Three Dog Ranch.

“It was pretty fun, we got to learn about the dogs and how they give them medicine, and that was really cool,” McNeely said.

Sophomore Delaney Hutcheson volunteered to play Bingo at the Senior Citizen Center.

“It was awesome, I loved it,” Hutcheson said. “Normally that’s not something I would choose to do in my free time, and it was just really great to sit there and help them … well, they helped us pretty much; we didn’t know what we were doing!”

Student engagement in volunteer projects expanded enough last year to prompt faculty to broaden the organizations involved and to lengthen the time available for them, said School District 6 Student and Family Advocate Tamara Sundberg.

This year saw a record number of students, 250, sign up, greater than a third of the student body. Because of the large volume of interest, projects that kicked off during Bleed Blue Week will be extended for the rest of the year.

Examples of projects include shoveling snow, yard cleanup, trail cleanup in the National Forest, hosting Bingo games at the senior citizen center, “tech-tutorials” with seniors, peer tutoring, general support at the library, and digitizing paper records for local agencies and nonprofits.

Sundberg said there’s still time for businesses to sign up to receive volunteers. If interested, email Sundberg at [email protected].