From left to right, Gifted/ESL teacher Erin Cornelius and students Beau Petron, Carter Pyne, and Carson Goshorn are pictured volunteering at Mount Union’s food bank.
By LILY HICKS | Journalism Student, Mount Union Area Senior High School
Mount Union, Pa. — On December 16, 2025, Mount Union Gifted/ESL teacher Erin Cornelius took her eighth-grade gifted students to Mount Union’s food bank as part of a community service project. The project developed earlier in the year through a classroom partnership with Mrs. Amy Bilger, former MUASD technology teacher.
Mrs. Bilger has been volunteering in Ms. Cornelius’s classroom once a week. She began volunteering when Ms. Cornelius had to change classrooms, and her new room included many pieces of technology she was unfamiliar with. Because many of her gifted students expressed an interest in technology, Ms. Cornelius wanted to provide them with more knowledge than she felt she could offer on her own.
Once Mrs. Bilger was board-approved to volunteer in the classroom, she began coming in after volunteering at the local food bank, which became a “teachable moment,” in Ms. Cornelius’s words. Together, Ms. Cornelius and Mrs. Bilger began teaching students about volunteering and how they can give back to their community. When creating plans for her gifted students, Ms. Cornelius reached out to Stephanie Daniels from TIU 11 for assistance. With Ms. Daniels’s help, Ms. Cornelius learned about community service projects and put the idea into action.
To begin the lesson, Ms. Cornelius and Mrs. Bilger asked their four students, “What type of needs do you think people in the Mount Union area have?” The students then split into pairs and were assigned to research information about Mount Union and ways they could help. The pairs presented their findings to the group. One group believed there was not enough access to public transportation, while the other group identified that many families struggle with food insecurity.
Because addressing public transportation would be difficult for junior high students to implement, the group decided that visiting the local food bank would be a realistic and meaningful way to help. While at the food bank, the students loaded and unloaded donations, sorted expired items, prepared food for families, taped boxes, stocked shelves and freezers, and assisted volunteers with other tasks that needed to be completed.
Ms. Cornelius hopes her students gained an understanding of volunteerism and its importance in a small community. She wanted them to recognize the need for volunteers and see that giving back can be enjoyable. She said she “hopes that her students aspire to be those people.” Overall, the students said they enjoyed visiting the food bank and would like to volunteer again. Ms. Cornelius hopes the experience will lead to additional opportunities for students to give back, including another visit to the food bank in the near future.
This article was published as part of Ms. Dimoff’s Journalism class at Mount Union Area Senior High School.
Leave a Reply