CHHS Students Follow Through on Part Two of MLK Day of Service and Put into Action Service Projects Across the District and Within the Croton Community 

Intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and interconnected service projects developed by students at the inaugural CHHS MLK Day of Service workshops in January were implemented and brought to the Croton schools and community this past Friday. “The events included many student voices and perspectives. It allowed for a platform where students, who typically do not see each other, can spend time together and learn each other’s stories. The two-part series helped first bring students together under a common purpose and to plan and initiate their community service projects,” said CHHS School Counselor Zoha Nadeem. “Our students built an impressive foundation on January 17th and, incredibly, they carried it out on March 21st. The CHHS MLK Day of Service had an impact that was felt by all -  students, teachers, and the community around us,” added CHHS Health and PE Educator Kerri Tracy.

The day-long service program began with a morning group activity - assembling the disk art sculpture created during the January workshop. The nature of the art piece lends itself to reconfiguration, flexibility, and portability options for its display, reflecting the meaning behind the collective messages of inspiration drawn on each of the disks. “This will first be exhibited at CHHS,” said Jodi Burger, CHHS art teacher. “There are possibilities for this to become a traveling installation that, over time, can be shared with all our schools.” After the activity, the MLK Day of Service students separated into smaller groups to run their service projects at CHHS, the Croton Senior Club, CET Elementary School, and Croton IDEA. CHHS Teachers and Committee Advisors Jodi Burger, Pam Morrison, Kirby Mosenthal, Zoha Nadeem, Stephanie Southwick, Kerri Tracy, and Amy Yannarelli-Shaw accompanied the students to their MLK Day of Service destinations. 

In the community meeting room at the Village Municipal Building, students spent the morning and afternoon with members of the Croton Senior Club, a Croton recreation department program open to CHUFSD residents aged 60 and older. Senior Club attendees and CHHS students spent time getting to know each other playing Comchi, a card game that prompts meaningful conversations and genuine connections. In the afternoon, they enjoyed a mindful coloring activity together. Longtime Croton resident and Senior Club member Janet Tuttle engaged with as many of the students as she could. “I find it invigorating to have these high school students here with us today,” she said. “Spending time with them gives me hope in the world.” Fellow Senior Club member Joan Demm, a Croton resident for 61 years, shared similar thoughts. “I love it,” she said. “We should do this more often. We don’t get to see kids in the community today in the same way we used to.” The students planned the ice–breaking card game activity before the visit, but quickly found that the conversations with the seniors felt easy and relaxed.

When talking with Senior Club member Marilyn Grantner, Journey Martin, a CHHS tenth grader, learned about Ms. Grantner’s history and what led her to move to Croton in 2019. “Ms. Grantner moved here because it was important for her to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren who live in Croton,” said Journey. “Also, her husband was a chef, and I am interested in becoming a chef myself.” Ms. Grantner shared her joy in spending time with Croton students. “I volunteer for the Croton Cares program with CET students, so I love experiences like this,” she said. “I think young people can be intimidated by people our age. I think it’s important to understand that we have a lot of experience to offer and that we also want to hear about other generations’ experiences as well.”

Inside the CHHS gymnasium, a self-defense class was offered to all high school students to support My Sisters’ Place, a Westchester-based organization that strives to end domestic violence and human trafficking through education, outreach, support, and services. In pairs of two, high school students learned self-defense techniques from CKO Kickboxing, a local Croton business. “My Sisters’ Place was one of the organizations we met with during the January workshop. We came up with the idea for the self-defense class for our service event and included a collection of feminine product donations for domestic violence victims in need of essential supplies,” said Juliana Albanese, CHHS ninth grader.  “Creating this event has been meaningful to me. It has been a really good experience,” said Iree Jiang, also a ninth grader. Stephanie Southwick, CHHS social studies teacher, spoke about the learning extension for students through this experience. “In addition to learning more about MLK, students learned that they can have an impact on their community,” she said. “Students were excited to be involved in the service project and felt they were a part of ‘The World House’ that we discussed in January.”

The Village of Croton-on-Hudson IDEA committee met with MLK Day of Service students to exchange thoughts and find opportunities for future collaborations. During the meeting, the CHHS students conceptualized an idea for the Juneteenth Celebration. “We spent the day coming up with ways to partner and participate,” said CHHS student Penda Dyer. “After discussing Juneteenth, we decided to make this beautiful flag for the celebration. It will be featured artwork at the Croton event,” said CHHS student Penda Dyer as she held up the handmade flag made that day. “Meeting with Croton IDEA and learning about their work in our community was an eye-opening experience for students,” said Ms. Nadeem. “They were able to see firsthand how an organization makes incremental changes to have a larger impact.”

CHHS ELL and librarian teachers Amy Yannarelli-Shaw and Pamela Morrison partnered to bring ELL MLK Day of Service students together with CET second-graders for a reading and vocabulary-building activity. The high schoolers read the elementary students' favorite fairy tales in English and Spanish and taught them vocabulary words in both languages. “The books were selected in advance of the visit. We wanted to choose stories they wanted to hear most to foster connection,” said Ms. Yannarelli-Shaw. “There were so many different facets to the entire experience, opening up the opportunity for learning and engagement on many levels. Seeing the students establish connections and act as role models for younger students was an education beyond the classroom experience.” Ms. Morrison noted the significance and impact the spirit of teamwork brings. ”The professional collaborations that went into this day were incredible. Ms. Yannarelli-Shaw and I connected our work with the Dynamic Duo Workshop to both ELL and classroom teachers at CET and our amazing colleagues at the high school,” she said. This event extended our project in ways we never could have accomplished without the rest of our colleagues.”

Just as they began the day together, the MLK Day of Service committee and faculty advisory team ended their day together. After reconnecting and retelling, they reflected on what makes each committee member special with an activity called Flipping the Script. Led by CHHS School Counselor Kirby Mosenthal, the purpose of the activity is to take the negative connotation of talking behind someone’s back and turn it around with positive messages written on a piece of paper taped to their backs, almost like a literal demonstration of the saying, I have your back. "The student connection exceeded my expectations,” said Ms. Nadeem. ” It was beautiful to see the connections made through the students' passion for service across different disciplines such as education, art, history, and storytelling.”