So it hasn’t been all that terribly long since I was in high school myself, but in the last year and a half or so that I’ve been writing about schools in Maple Valley and Covington I’ve definitely noticed a shift.

This week as I was writing about the food drives at Kent high schools I had a ‘kids these days’ moment. But not of the traditionally thought or expressed exasperated eye-rolling ‘kids these days, back in my day we knew better/acted better’ variety.

More like, ‘wow, kids these days, we didn’t used to do cool things like this.’

In the time I’ve spent in schools and the students I’ve talked to and the things I’ve seen them do, they’re just so much more aware.

By that I mean that the awareness of helping people and actively looking for ways to make a difference.

When I was in high school there was the annual food drive, but that’s the thing that stands out to me the most.

Raising money to fight various types of cancer seems to be the dominant theme now.

I’ve lost count of all the fundraisers I’ve heard about in the last year and a half. Everything from raising money for specific students and staff members who were diagnosed with cancer — last year the Kentwood girls swim team collected money and made a blanket for a Tahoma swimmer who had just been diagnosed and last spring Kentlake held a silent auction to raise money for one of the school’s administrative assistants who found out she had cancer — to raising money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation or Maple Valley-based Wings of Karen or the American Cancer Society through established third party events or students creating their own like turning a football or soccer game into a fundraiser and having a show of support by pinking out a stadium.

And there are other topics students have undertaken to raise awareness about. Students tackled a tough topic with Domestic Violence Awareness Week at Kentlake and the environment through Tahoma students who are involved with the Watershed Report come to mind.

It’s neat to see so many students driven to help others and to make that difference. To take the time to learn.

Personally and selfishly for me it’s cool to see all these things happen and I love getting to write about them. I’m a big fan of sharing the things we hear about here in The Reporter office. So often it seems like students get a bad rap and they all get lumped together with their peers who make bad decisions. I remember how it felt to have that happen to me, and while, yes, that is small potatoes in the big scheme of things, it mattered to me then, and it bothered me. And a belief that people’s stories matter is one key part of why I do what I do.

Students are getting outside themselves and their high school worlds. They’re interacting with the community and the region and giving of their time and talents and passions. And that’s a pretty cool thing to see.