Harvey sixth grade teacher Bret Dockter, who was named North Dakota Teacher of the Year in 2022, centers his students around the classroom’s annual project, organizing fundraising efforts for everything from new fire trucks, police vests, playgrounds to the local theater, senior citizens center and library.

Dockter, who has been an educator for 26 years, said the seed for the ongoing service project began during what he called “an accident.” During a lesson around the concept of “a million,” Dockter encouraged his then fourth grade class in 2009 to collect pop tops to visualize how big the number really is.

“We collected pop tops, and I made a deal with them that if they got to a million I’d wear a dress. They were so excited about it, they were writing letters and doing all kinds of good things around the community. We didn’t quite get a million, we got about 850,000 or something like that. As we got close to the end, I was like, ‘What are we going to do with these things?'” Dockter said.

Dockter eventually lined up a donation of the multitude of pop tops to the Ronald McDonald House in Bismarck and loaded them in a bus with his students to deliver them. Dockter said seeing the pride on his students’ faces and the appreciation shown by the organization drove him to find a way to replicate the endeavor every year. The next year Dockter’s class started small and fundraised for the Shriners Hospital, which culminated in a visit from the Shriners to Harvey at the end of the school year.

Harvey sixth grade teacher Bret Dockter and the 2023-24 sixth graders pose together at the conclusion of their service project to raise money for a new splash pad in Harvey.

The passion his students showed for the initial projects only inspired Dockter to think bigger, culminating in a gift to the Erik Ramstad Middle School’s science department. But Dockter said it was the next batch of students in 2012 who pushed for the project to take a more local turn.

“The fourth year, the class came and said, ‘This is great, but we’d like to do something around our town. There’s stuff we can do.’ They started throwing ideas out, and they found something in the community they wanted to help with, and at that time it was theater,” Dockter said. “They worked all school year thinking of things they could do to help the theater. Not just moneywise, but what can we do in this place? Can we help them clean? So it became this service learning project, and it kept growing year after year after year.”

Dockter said each subsequent class brought a new approach to the service project, adding events like dodgeball tournaments, culminating in an American Idol-style concert to showcase to their classmates, teachers, and community the fruits of their efforts.

“They gave me a half day of school off to do this with the whole school. The community came out, and at the end, the kids got to come out and present a check with everything they earned. It’s gotten really big. We have a packed gym, and it’s a celebration of everything we’ve done the whole year,” Dockter said. “It’s really neat. It’s grown into something that I can’t even hardly believe what it’s grown into.”

As the years have gone on, Dockter said, every year it takes less work on his part to get the ball rolling with the next group of students. Dockter prepares the incoming sixth graders with summer homework, planning and looking for the need in their community so they already have ideas percolating when they show up on the first day of school in the fall.

A quilt made by Harvey sixth grade teacher Bret Dockter’s mother from the various T-shirts commemorating his class’s service projects over the years hangs in his classroom.

Dockter’s classes set aside 45 minutes each day to work on the project and begin by voting on the project. The planning and execution of the project begins in earnest with goals for each month and engagement with local Harvey businesses and organizations through letter writing.

Dockter said the students’ work on the project not only hits a number of elements in the curriculum but his favorite part of the experience is how it brings the community into the classroom.

“Last year our park board came into our classroom four times. We interviewed them. Last year we worked on the pool, because Harvey needs a new pool. The sixth graders got to be a part of the planning process for the pool. What a cool opportunity that was for them,” Dockter said. “The kids really get revved up on that and excited about making their mark on the community as well.”

The most recent projects by Dockter’s class contributed to renovations at the Harvey Beach and $30,000 for a new splash pad at the Harvey Pool. Dockter said while the contribution raised by the end of the year has steadily increased from year to year, the real marker to gauge the worth of their efforts is in what they accomplish throughout the year. Last year, the class elected to pause their community project efforts in favor of devoting a couple of weeks to a fellow student diagnosed with cancer.

“They decided to stop, and we visited about it, and they wanted to do a couple things for him for two weeks and make it all about him. They made banners for all the students to sign. They sold concessions for school one day, and all the proceeds were for him to go and get cancer treatment,” Dockter said. “They understand that is more than what we’re doing for the project that year; they need to look for ways to help.”

Dockter said the Harvey community and local businesses have embraced and engaged with the project just as much as his students have, never passing up an opportunity to contribute every year no matter how often the phone rings.

“I get businesses now during the summer saying, ‘How come your class didn’t hit us up this year?’ In a small town you kind of get nervous about hitting the same businesses all the time. We don’t want to keep pounding them. It’s really neat to see how the community is invested in it,” Dockter said.

While the community often comes to him with ideas or requests for what the project should be, Dockter said he doesn’t influence the kids, as their ideas and investment are what make the whole endeavor so special. Dockter said the legacy and impact of the project inspires not only each incoming class but has a lasting impact on them long after they have moved on to high school.

“A lot of the kids who go through sixth grade, when they get to high school, they remember it and want to be part of it. A couple of our boys the last couple years who are in FCCLA (Family Career and Community Leaders of America), used it as their STAR event (Students Taking Action with Recognition), and they’ve come back to help us. The student council gets on board also to help the sixth graders,” Dockter said.

Those upperclassmen are Jacob Anderson, Ty Jenner and Noah Ziegler. They said they were encouraged by their FCCLA adviser Kathy Walsh to support the sixth graders. The three didn’t need much persuading after their experience when they were sixth graders, raising additional contributions, designing T-shirts and pitching in other small ways, such as emceeing the Idol at the end of the year. The trio ultimately won the national STAR event competition at the national FCCLA level for their work.

“Inspiring those kids to continue on the legacy from sixth grade on through high school is super important. It keeps your community alive and pleased with how involved the youth are in the community. There are many businesses here and adults who are surprised with how active and how much the youth in the community want to help,” Anderson said.