Lake Highland is the “School of Opportunity,” encouraging students to excel academically and athletically, as well as promoting the importance of giving back to the community through what they love. With many students looking to help share their passions and talents with others, Rachel McKenzie, grade 9, has significantly impacted her community through ice skating. McKenzie has been volunteering with the local program Gliding Stars for three years now, helping kids with disabilities learn how to ice skate and build their confidence through friendship and hard work. Gliding Stars is a charity working to help empower these athletes with over 50 partnerships and more than 22 athletes empowered annually. Gliding Stars offers the opportunity to do up to 600 hours of community service a year with multiple clinics and events, perfect for those with a busy schedule.
Rachel McKenzie is no stranger to the ice. She has spent years building her craft and mastering her skills on the ice, but she is one of the few athletes who gives so much back to her community. McKenzie explained how she originally started volunteering, saying, “One of my friends used to volunteer with Gliding Stars and introduced me to Gliding Stars. I love being able to teach kids something I enjoy doing, and I like helping allow them to do things they are normally not able to do.”
McKenzie fell in love with teaching these athletes skills and building their confidence. She believes in this program because they have a mission that many programs do not offer. McKenzie describes Gliding Stars’ mission as, “Helping kids with disabilities learn how to skate. This helps have more kids with disabilities in skating because they need extra help and equipment to start.” Her love for ice skating fuels her passion for helping others to do what she loves, she explained, “It helps me when explaining new skills to others because I am able to look at a skill in different ways of doing or explaining the skill, depending on who I am explaining to.” Even when McKenzie is on the ice with these athletes, her love for the sport grows even more spending time working with them. Rachel added, “I love being able to take what I have learned in the past three years of figure skating and teach those same skills to kids who have the same interests as me.” Like many other volunteers McKenzie enjoys teaching what she knows.
Although many students are looking for volunteer opportunities, their busy schedules make it difficult to find a commitment that will also be flexible with their time, or they feel like they may not have the skills to help. One of the reasons Rachel McKenzie recommends joining this program is because of its many service opportunities. She stated, “I would 100% recommend volunteering for Gliding Stars. During the season, we have more athletes than volunteers, and most of the time not everyone is there. Even if you do not know how to ice skate, you can always help with equipment.” Also, because of its time commitments, “Gliding Stars is only on the weekends for one hour, making it easy to put out the time to help.”
Not only does Gliding Stars help build ice skating skills, but it also builds leadership skills when working with these athletes. McKenzie describes the effects of learning these skills on her as she said, “They impacted me in many different ways, some being on how I look at teaching, learning, and patience. When volunteering, sometimes I have gotten paired with kids who would not listen to me, and I would have to try different ways to keep them engaged and focused. I also have had times where I get an athlete who is nervous on the ice and cannot yet skate by themselves, so I would just skate around the rink with them, making sure they are comfortable and that they know how well they are doing.”
Gliding Stars is easily a great way for students at Lake Highland to build friendships, grow their leadership skills, and get more community service hours. With a great atmosphere of athletes and coaches, even volunteering feels like fun, with hands-on activities on the ice and fun games. Empowering these special athletes through ice skating, building their skills, and creating a supportive environment surrounding them and their skills makes it easy to see why so many parents and athletes choose to work with Gliding Stars. Featuring special events with professionals, this program is one like no other. So if you are looking for a weekend activity or a way to get your community service hours in come skate with Gliding Stars at the RDV.
