For the past eight years, Mrs. Winterer has been hosting a yearlong Civic Engagement Project inspired by the work of political scientist Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone. Winterer took it upon herself to set her students up for success through increasing their social capital.

Winterer explained, “And talking about the important of building communities, social capital; how healthy democracies and societies are really built around the idea that people know their neighbors, that they work together to solve problems”. Through this project she hopes to teach her students practical skills, collaboration, and critical thinking.

Building social capital can be seen as simple as talking to people face to face. Winterer expanded, “I think that building social capital starts with just everyday personal interactions. Even just getting rid of the phones, I think, in school has helped with that kind of stuff where students are having to interact face to face more.”

Julia Pearce(12), a senior at Hidden Valley High is one of the many students in Mrs. Winterer class engaging in the Civic Engagement project. Pearce’s project is donation drive to help address menstrual product poverty here in the Roanoke valley by distributing period kits. The project should take around three months with about three weeks to collect donations to make the kits. Pearce further explained, “My main goal is to help people in my local community in need and increase access to period products, especially as access becomes more inequitable with rising prices.”

Civic Engagement can be carried out in many different ways whether that be through period drives or advice columns. Being involved in your community is an underrated, yet very important activity that Mrs. Winterer is pushing her students to pursue.