By Kaden Silva

The Sugar Maple Festival, the yearly gathering for artist vendors, local restaurants and food trucks, and various community organizations, got the help of dedicated volunteers from Bellbrook High School. Without their contributions, the festival would have been missing community engagement activities that add to the richness of the small-town festival. 

“I love being around kids,” Ashley Frantz, an NHS senior helping run a kid’s game, said. “I love watching their faces light up when they do something well in the game.”

The festival games for the kids, consisting of games such as Plinko and putt-putt, were immensely popular with the children who visited the festival.

Senior Rachel Secody was another volunteer at the kid’s game area and nominee for the Sugar Maple Festival Sweetheart. “I like volunteering because I like to see the faces of people having fun,” Secody said. “And it’s just a good way to give back to the community that helped me grow up.”

One NHS student volunteering at the face-painting station at the festival, junior Ethan Newell, has done work in other parts of the community. “A few years ago, I organized two pet food drives and got 2000 pounds of cat food,” Newell said. “I just like helping people. This one’s fun, since we’re painting faces. Even if you do not do that great of a job, the kids are still happy.” 

The Bellbrook NHS BelHigh chapter advisor, math teacher Mrs. Rivero, commented that the chapter has always historically been involved in the Sugar Maple Festival.

“I don’t know exactly but it has been years. NHS has volunteered probably since the festival started,” Rivero said. “NHS volunteers at the fall fest for BSEF.  They create and manage the haunted hallway and the not-so haunted space. They volunteer for many park district events.  They are peer tutors every day, all day. They help at band events. They volunteer in the concession stand at sporting events and at book fairs at the elementary school. They are all over!”