Students given opportunities for service

Costa Mesa High School hosts nonprofit groups to recruit volunteers from student body.Ariana Douk, like many of her classmates at Costa Mesa High School, has a dream of visiting China next year. It won’t be a sight-seeing trip, however. What Ariana and her 11th-grade Business Academy class want to do is attend a trade fair -- and then work in a homeless shelter.

“I think it would be worse,” said Ariana, 15, who has volunteered at homeless shelters in Orange County. “The conditions would be worse.”

Thursday afternoon, Ariana was one of dozens of students attending the high school’s third service fair, in which nonprofit organizations set up tables and enlisted students to volunteer for them. As she discussed her plans for China, Ariana signed up for four organizations closer to home: Project Cuddle, Working Wardrobes, the YMCA and the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter across town.

“I would like to do hands-on volunteering, for sure, and know how it’s going to help,” she said.

Thursday marked the fourth and final day of this year’s service fair. Starting Monday, a total of 14 nonprofit groups -- including Girls Inc., the Blind Children’s Learning Center, and Project Success -- set up tables in the commons and handed out literature to students. Passersby could sign up to cook, tutor, sort clothing or volunteer for dozens of other activities.

To graduate from Costa Mesa High School, students must perform at least 40 hours of community service. Some of the students milling around the tables Thursday had long ago exceeded that mark, but stayed in the game anyway.

“I just think it’s a lot of fun to be able to help someone else,” said Patricia Marty, 15. “It’s fun for me, but it’s also good to experience some of the different emotions that go with it.”

Patricia has a personal connection with a local charity: Her mother, Susan, is an administrator for Working Wardrobes. The Fountain Valley-based group provides donated clothes to adults and at-risk young people attempting to enter the workforce, and also offers seminars in grooming and life skills.

Another group in the commons Thursday also had homegrown roots. Project Cuddle, a service for young and unwed mothers, was started in 1996 by Debbe Magnusen, a parent of seven children (five adopted) at Costa Mesa High School. Madison Woolworth, an administrative assistant for Project Cuddle who manned the table on campus, said the group relied on hundreds of teenage volunteers every year.

“This is when they start being old enough to have babies, so we want to get our name out now,” Woolworth said.

The service fair was only one of the community service events at Costa Mesa High School this week. On Wednesday, the school held Peer Court, in which students heard the case of a juvenile offender. The following morning, the American Red Cross conducted a blood drive in the school cafeteria.

“We want them to be lifelong learners of service, to embrace that as a lifelong thing,” said Ann Brown, a counselor at Costa Mesa High School who organized the service fair. 20051209ir7mcoknWENDI KAMINSKI / DAILY PILOT(LA)Arthur Gomez and Viktoria Rostovceva, juniors at Costa Mesa High School, fill out information cards to volunteer for the YMCA Youth Achievers.