WALLINGFORD, Vt. – Students at Wallingford Elementary School (WES) are setting an ambitious goal for the 2026-2027 school year: complete 150 acts of service for their school and the greater Wallingford community. But this year, they are hoping the idea spreads well beyond Wallingford.
Wallingford Elementary is challenging other schools throughout the region and across Vermont to set their own service goals and find meaningful ways for students to make a difference in the communities they call home. The challenge builds on an initiative that began during the 2025-2026 school year. Wallingford students and staff set out to complete 100 acts of service and ultimately surpassed their goal, finishing the year with 104. This year, WES has raised the goal to 150.
“The number gives us something to rally around, but 150 is not really the point,” said Wallingford Elementary Principal Phil Hall. “We want our students to understand that they don’t have to wait until they are adults to make a difference. They are members of this community right now, and they are capable of making it better.”
At Wallingford Elementary, an act of service must involve at least 30 minutes of meaningful work and benefit either the entire school community or the greater Wallingford community. The goal is not to count every individual good deed, but to give students opportunities to invest their time, effort, and energy into something larger than themselves. Projects might include maintaining or improving community spaces, helping local organizations, supporting community events, completing environmental projects, creating something that benefits others, or responding to needs identified by members of the community.
The school is also inviting the Town of Wallingford, local organizations and businesses, and community members to help identify genuine needs that students can help address. If there is a park that needs attention, an organization that could use extra hands, a seasonal project that needs volunteers, or another age-appropriate opportunity for elementary students to contribute, WES wants to hear about it.
Now, Wallingford Elementary hopes other schools will join the effort. Schools do not need to complete 150 projects or follow Wallingford’s exact model. A school might challenge its students to complete 25, 50, or 100 acts of service. Another might set a goal based on its enrollment, organize one schoolwide service project each month, or develop a challenge that fits the needs of its own community. What matters is giving young people authentic opportunities to see themselves as contributors.
“We would love to see another school take this idea and make it their own,” Hall said. “Then maybe another school challenges the next one. Imagine the collective impact if students in schools all over Vermont spent this year looking for ways to make their communities better.”
Schools that accept the challenge are encouraged to share and celebrate their projects and invite other schools to participate. The hope is to create a growing network of students across Vermont demonstrating what young people can accomplish when service becomes an intentional part of school culture.
At Wallingford Elementary, the initiative connects directly to the school’s 2026-2027 theme, “All for One and One for All,” as well as “Together We Grow,” the school motto introduced during the 2025-2026 school year.
Last year’s 104 acts of service demonstrated what one small school community could accomplish when students, educators, and community members worked toward a common goal. This year, Wallingford Elementary hopes to accomplish even more, and inspire other schools to start their own challenges along the way.
The ultimate goal is not 150 acts of service; it is helping children grow up believing that their communities belong to them, too, and that when they see an opportunity to make their corner of the world a little better, they have the power to do something about it.