Whether it’s students with special needs or residents of disadvantaged areas, Bailee Mann has made a habit of jumping at the chance to help.
Mann is a senior at Pickerington High School North.
Though Mann is still figuring out her college plans, she knows what she wants to study.
“I know that I want to go into special education,” she says. “That’s a for-sure thing now.”
Bailee Mann volunteers in Haiti through the CPR-3 program.
Since her freshman year, Mann has been part of the Peer Collaborators program at North. Through the program, students go into special education classrooms and act as academic and social mentors to the students there.
Prior to joining up with Peer Collaborators, Mann did not have a particular interest in special education. She heard about the program through a tour of North when she was in the eighth grade. After the tour took Mann and her fellow incoming freshmen through the special education classroom, she went back to talk to the teachers there, learned about the program, took out an application and signed up.
The program is part of her class schedule. For at least one period each day since she started high school, Mann has helped out in the special education program at North.
“I fell in love with all the kids and I fell in love with all the teachers,” she says.
Reading, crafts, baking, recycling and athletic activity are just a handful of the academic activities she has assisted with. She’s also been part of quarterly dances that rotate among schools in nearby districts; North’s, a luau, typically takes place toward the end of the school year. In addition, she’s gotten a chance to observe the work experience program for special education students, which connects them with local businesses such as Bob Evans and Rule 3.
Peer Collaborators isn’t the only opportunity to help that Mann embraced. Through a program called CPR-3, she has visited Haiti to help out in disadvantaged areas there.
Mann was connected with CPR-3 through her church, Grace Fellowship. She was interested in doing a big service project and had been involved in several smaller projects through youth conferences in other states when she learned about CPR-3. She was compelled to fill out an application right away and get involved as swiftly as possible.
“I have always felt God calling me to do something like this,” Mann says.
She spent a week in Haiti in summer 2014 and six weeks there this past summer. She is always looking forward to the next opportunity to head there, she says.
People tend to think groups like CPR-3 send members just to build homes and churches and similar structures, but the group does more than that, Mann says. Members also work alongside the residents of the areas they visit to ensure they can continue the work after CPR-3 has gone back stateside.
“We’re looking at the long-term need,” says Mann.
Mann with one of the students she works with through Peer Collaborators.
Mann also takes a service learning class at North. Two periods a day, three days a week, she shadows a third-grade teacher at Tussing Elementary School.
“I just get to go in there and help out Mrs. (Carrie) Goodwin whenever she needs help, and be a friend to those kids, too,” Mann says.
She also helps out in a classroom of students learning English as a second language.
Mann is a varsity cheerleader at North. She has been on the cheer squads for football and basketball every year since eighth grade, though she is not cheering for basketball this year as she focuses on her college endeavors.
As her busy schedule allows it, Mann also does a good deal of babysitting on the side, always looking for new ways to be of service to others.
“I’m someone who (loves) to serve,” she says. “I have always just wanted to help people. When I do see (opportunities to get involved), I just go for them.”
Mann is the oldest of three children. Her sister, Olivia, is 14, and her brother, Maddox, is 5. She moved to Pickerington with her parents, Dusty and Angie, from Ashville when she was in second grade.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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