La Salle High School’s Director of Baseball Operations Harry Agajanian took local high school baseball players and coaches to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for a tour of the hospital and to meet one of the patients to present him with a baseball cap and signed baseballs. It turns out the patient who was in CHLA for complications of pneumonia happened to be a little league baseball player from Baldwin Park.

This is La Salle’s 2nd annual fundraiser through open invitation to all high schools for their President’s Day “ALL IN” baseball tournament to help raise funds for CHLA and to teach the students to give back to the community. Of the 40 school tournament participants, student athletes from La Salle, Bosco Tech, Pasadena, Newbury Park, and Pomona High Schools attended a tour of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and presented hospital representatives Bob Weiner and Laura Gatewood with the promotional check. The total funds raised for the hospital the past two years is over $15,000.00.

Coach Aggie asks for more community involvement. “Our student-athletes learned that giving without receiving is a treasured gift. Although we grew from 24 participants our first year to 40 teams in 2016, we still need to make a bigger and better push for local establishments to help reach our goals. We are looking forward to even a larger turnout at next year’s President Weekend, as well as more sponsorship through parental involvement. Our mission is to teach our youth that the greatest joy of living is the joy that comes from giving.”

Sponsorship forms for next year’s fundraiser are now available by emailing hagajanian@lasallehs.org.

La Salle High School, 3880 East Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 351-8951 or visit www.lasallehs.org.

http://pasadenanow.com/pasadenaschools/la-salle-high-school-basketball-players-and-coaches-visit-childrens-hospital-los-angeles/#.VyNs7CMrKh0

Molly Matthaei, a fifth-grade student at Davison Avenue Intermediate School in the Malverne Union Free School District, was a top fundraiser in the district’s 2015 Relay for Life fundraiser.

This year, Molly is well on her way to achieving the same goal, having raised more than $2,100 to date. She secures donations by standing outside grocery stores on the weekends with her dad and speaking at church masses. Her efforts also include a $1,000 donation from the Michelle O’Neil Foundation for her cause this year. Molly is motivated to raise the funds in support of a family friend whose child was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Photo courtesy of the Malverne Union Free School District

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As part of Northport High School’s inaugural Autism Awareness Week, which was held from April 4-8, clubs collaborated on a series of projects. This included various activities in the Commons, such as a photo booth, an Autism Awareness tree and t-shirt sales. The Commons was decorated with autism facts on blue paper as part of the Autism Awareness ‘Light It Up Blue Day’-initiative.

From Monday to Friday, students and staff put their names on puzzle pieces that were added to the Autism Awareness tree. On April 7, a panel of speakers, including Michael Comisky, school psychologist; Autism advocates from the educational community, and students Jameson Bruno and Jack Leonard conducted a deeper discussion about Autism. The week culminated with everyone wearing blue on Friday and posing for a photo to show solidarity.

Nearly a quarter century ago, the Autism Society launched a nationwide effort in April to promote autism awareness, inclusion and self-determination for all, and assure that each person with ASD is provided the opportunity to achieve the highest possible quality of life.

Photo Caption: Students and teachers showed signs of solidarity during Northport High School’s inaugural Autism Awareness Week.

Photos courtesy of Northport-East Northport Schools

NOTE: Student-athletes are more than just competitors on the field; in many ways, a student-athlete’s education comes in three different avenues. First the student learns in the classroom; then they learn with on-the-job training in their respective fields of study; finally, the student-athlete learns on the field of play as well to complete the cycle of attaining knowledge through their years of higher education. Sometimes, also, the student learns by going on unforgettable trips and realizing memorable experiences that can only be offered through higher levels of education and institutional programs offered at colleges and universities.

This is “Molloy Athletes in Action.” The Department of Athletics presents this series as a first-person account of Molloy student-athletes in their respective fields doing incredible things that will enhance their knowledge and better their understanding of their studies going forward. These are first-person accounts straight from the student-athletes that have not been edited, doctored or changed in any way, shape or form.

Gianna Jennosa and Danielle Valente are members of the Molloy College women’s soccer team who were fortunate enough to travel to New Orleans as part of “Service-Learning Travel” with the Office of Experiential Learning on campus. Devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the area fondly known as “The Big Easy” has been slowly making a comeback with the help of volunteers and residents of the area and abroad.

GIANNA AND DANIELLE: The trip to New Orleans was one of our favorite experiences with Molloy College. It was very educational as we learned about a few natural disasters that had occured, such as Hurricane Katrina. Due to the severity of this hurricane, it had a huge impact on the coastline of Louisiana, which is what we helped go and restore. Doing activities along the coastline such as weeding, putting down new soil, planting flowers and trees, and inserting Hesco baskets into the shore allowed us to see how much work was still needed to be done to help restore the coastline.

Along with restoring the coastline, we got the opportunity to work with students from the International school of Louisiana as we were accompanied by the U.S Fish and Wildlife services. Together we went on walks through the Bayou Savage, which is a natural home for surrounding wildlife and placed predator guards on newly planted trees to allow them to grow to their full potential. Lastly, we had the luxury to canoe through some of the largest lakes surrounding Louisiana and insert new plants in the swamps to help restore what was destroyed.

Overall this trip was very educational, successful, and definitely a fun experience that we would highly recommend to the student body at Molloy College. This trip truly had an impact on us by showing us how less fortunate some people are. Seeing some of the houses in the Lower Ninth Ward, a town that was highly impacted by the storm, was quite a tragedy as the people walking around seemed to still be devastated. This experience made us realize how lucky we are, and was an eye opener to see the struggle people have to go through in their every day lives. Being able to help out and give back to a community that was effected by such a tragedy was an amazing feeling that everybody should experience at some point in their lives. Exploring and aiding to the restoration of New Orleans allowed us to do a lot of self reflecion in the way pollution is effecting us.

Because of the damage taken place not only in New Orleans but any other country or state that is impacted by natural disasters, the pollution it causes is very dangerous and will have an impact on generations to come. This will cause us to be more aware of recycling everything we could to contribute to helping the earth. Not only are we going to recycle but spreading the word is just as important as doing it yourself. The more people we get on the same page to help out the cause of pollution in the air, water, soil, etc. will have a positive impact on the world we live in not only today but for generations to come.

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Mar. 2, 2016) – The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) of the Molloy College Department of Athletics recently took part in the “Open Your Heart” campaign to provide pajamas and books for children across the country as part of the Pajama Program’s fight against what they call the “Danger Season.”

The student-athletes helped to collect over 50 pairs of pajamas and 50 books to give to children in need. The Pajama Program dubbed the six-month period between October and March as the “Danger Season” due to the extreme cold temperatures that face a considerable portion of the United States during these months. The student-athletes were able to collect these important items and are planning to drop off these essentials to the Economic Opportunity Commission in Hempstead.

You can learn more about the Pajama Program and find other ways to help by visiting pajamaprogram.org.