Last Saturday, October 24th, the Upper School Service Board hosted Service Saturday. There was a huge turnout of teachers and students of all grades participating in a wide range of events to benefit our community. The Service Board held events on campus and off campus.
For the off-campus event, students, including members of the Earth Committee and Hewitt family and friends, boarded a fully loaded bus at 8:00 am with Mr. Clare, a middle school math teacher. They traveled from Hewitt to the Conference House Park in Staten Island. When they arrived, they used weed whackers to clear grounds so that new trees could be planted. In order to prepare for the planting of new trees, they mulched around new saplings to ready the grounds. The organization that these Hewitt students were working with was MillionTreesNYC. MillionTreesNYC is a citywide, public-private program with the goal to plant and care for one million new trees across the City’s five boroughs over the next decade.
Lizzie Young, a 10th grader at Hewitt and a member of Earth Committee, spoke about her experience attending the event: “The entire experience was very empowering and made me feel as if I benefited my society. It’s an event I look forward to taking part in in the future.”
On campus, students and faculty were focused on helping people less fortunate than them. Outside of Hewitt, nut-free baked goods made by members of our community were sold . The proceeds were donated to AmeriCares, our partner in disaster relief. In the lobby, students were given the opportunity to join the #LetGirlsLearn Campaign started by Michelle Obama. Student leaders took each girl’s picture with a statement about something she learned in school, which was posted onto Hewitt’s social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook.
In the Bistro, Hewitt girls and their families played the role of chefs as they prepared cookies and sandwiches and put them in colored paper bags for The Bowery Mission; this is an organization that provides meals , shelter, and medical care to homeless New Yorkers.
A second grader at the event, Annika, said that, “making the sandwiches was fun” and she hopes that,”the people at Bowery Mission like them.”
From 8 am to 2pm, the gym was filled with excitement, seeing as many events hosted included getting your hands a bit dirty. Many students made all kinds of different crafts to benefit people in our community. Students’ showed their artistic skills as they colored place mats to donate to All Souls Soup Kitchen. Mini-posters were designed and given to the Women’s Health Awareness Club that emphasized the importance of living healthy lifestyles; these posters will be placed all around the school. Students also decorated holiday-themed bags for Gods Love We Deliver which will contain nutritious, individually-tailored meals to people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. There was also a clothing drive where students collected and sorted clothes for men and women of all ages for the LSA Health Agency. Finally, many loved the Jump-a-Thon for Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations foundation, in which girls jumped rope for any number of minutes. Each minute was worth a point that went to either the blue or white team at Hewitt (depending on what team the girl was on). The total number of points by the winning team will be donated in dollars to Girl Up. The Jump-A-Thon record holder jumped for a whopping 49 minutes. In all, Hewitt girls jumped for 951 minutes!
“This year’s Saturday Service Fair was a huge success! Not only did the number of participants increase, but the amount of goods and monies we were able to provide our partner agencies increased as well!” said Ms. Dore, Upper School Service Coordinator. “All the organizations we donated to have partnered with Hewitt in the past, and I’m sure will be very pleased with the donations from our school. And the best part is, we were able to share our accomplishments with the rest of our community by having students, teachers and even Dr. Kinsey live tweeting from the event.”
We look forward to another successful Service Saturday next October!