GOSHEN COUNTY – The Compass Academy within Goshen County School District No. 1’s central office was bustling the afternoon of Sept. 10.

Students, teachers and Steven Zimmerman, transition supervisor in the district’s Office of Special Services, swiftly filled plastic bags for the first week of the backpack program, which provides families with snacks and meals over weekends.

“We have a lot of families that are very good people but they need a little help,” Zimmerman said. “From an education point of view, if the student has nutrition and is not hungry and worrying about where they’re going to get something to eat, they’re going to be prepared more for school. We want our students when they come to us to not be deprived of something to get them through.”

In the past, students who opted into the program were given backpacks, which they would bring back each week to be filled. In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, students are instead given disposable plastic bags with dried goods. 

Anyone can enroll in the backpack program and interest in it has increased this year amid the pandemic, Zimmerman said. Last year, they had 220 families on file and served between 160-170 each week. Now that actual backpacks are out of the picture, they will automatically provide food to every student who is signed up for the 2020-21 school year, which amounts to 297 so far. This accounts for more than 18% of GCSD students.

“We’ve got enough to get started, but we’ll have to get some help down the road,” Zimmerman said.

This past week, students brought home a Hamburger Helper dinner, fruit cocktails, jello, cookies, chips and blueberry shredded wheat cereal. 

A closet in The Compass Academy and a hallway at the central office are piled high with canned and dried goods, but Zimmerman said that supply will only last a month or so. Community organizations and programs like Goshen HELP and Foodbank of the Rockies sponsor them, but they take donations through the business office, or at drop off locations – there’s one at Pinnacle Bank on Main Street accepting food through Sept. 30.

The program is several years old, but Zimmerman and The Compass Academy took it over last year to add a community service component to their education. The academy, which serves 18-21 year old students who are taught job skills, community ties and life skills, came to the district five years ago with Zimmerman.

“When I took this job, one of the first things I noticed was we had some students in the high schools that had been there five and six years and didn’t want to be there anymore, had already taken all the classes they could and were quite disruptive,” he said. 

The seven full-time students enrolled this year are either employed or working toward their associate’s degree at Eastern Wyoming College. Their career and education aspirations range from vet tech to housekeeping and maintenance to culinary, which are possible with the help of job and education coaches, Zimmerman said. 

“Our goal is when they turn 21, they’re as productive as they can be in our society,” he said. “We’ve taken a wide range of students. Some of them will need assistance the rest of their lives, some will be completely independent.”

A bulletin board on one wall reads “Follow your own compass,” which Zimmerman said is the point of the Academy: finding where you want to go in life.

Taking over the backpack program has been a “bigger project than anticipated” but one that everyone enjoys, Zimmerman said. Not only does it give the class an opportunity to serve their community, but it’s also a time for students busy with their own work and studies to come together. 

Twins Cassandra and Miranda Miller, both Compass Academy students, took charge in filling bags and moved them to their respective shopping carts, which held each school’s share of meals. 

“I like filling (bags) and delivering them to the schools because it helps (families) when they run short on food,” Cassandra said. “Whenever they need help, they should have something.”

Thanks to the backpack program and The Compass Academy, they will.