To ease the transition from elementary to middle school student, sixth-graders at Lynbrook’s South Middle School participated in day one of the L.I.N.K. program on Sept. 8 with the help of eighth-grade volunteers. L.I.N.K., which stands for Lynbrook Students Independently Networking Kids, was created in an effort to decrease school anxiety, promote a positive hallway environment and provide a friendly face for the sixth-graders.

Eighth-graders who were interested in the program signed up at the end of the last school year to be mentors. The sign-ups were a success as the school had 75 student volunteers for the 2017-2018 school year.  

To kick off the program, students all gathered in the gymnasium where Principal Caryn Blum and guidance counselor Jennifer Arena greeted them.

“My hope is that these past couple of days, most of you are starting to feel more comfortable with the building,” said Arena. “We thought it would be nice though if everyone in the building had a buddy.”

The sixth-graders were then paired with two eighth-grade mentors who sat with them and conducted icebreaker activities to get to know them better. The older students spoke about their personal middle school experiences and answered questions about lockers, teachers, schedules and classes.  

The groups will meet again a few times during the year to strengthen the relationship between the students. Through the program, the older students will build their confidence as role models and have the opportunity to enjoy an extra sense of responsibility while gaining valuable leadership skills along the way.

 

Photo Captions:

1. South Middle School eighth-graders formed a circle with sixth-graders to speak about their middle school experiences.  
2. Eighth-graders Jordan Glickman and Conor Lynch (right) got to know the sixth-graders through different questions.

 

Photos courtesy of the Lynbrook School District

This summer, members of DePaul Athletics teamed up to complete a service trip in Parramos, Guatemala. Senior Joe Hanel led and organized the trip after being inspired to recreate an experience he had with an organization called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH, Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) while he was in high school.

Having gone to Guatemala once before, Hanel wanted to share the lessons he learned there with other DePaul athletes. Students ranged in both academic year and sport — there were track and field athletes and basketball players. Hanel said that DePaul Athletics picked up the tab for much of the trip, which helped to make it possible in the first place.

“I really wanted to give student athletes here an opportunity to not only travel abroad but get that service aspect,” Hanel said. “We’re really busy here between school and sport. It’s like a full time job. Not a lot of us have time to get out and try other things and I thought this was a great opportunity.”

Hanel and eight other student athletes spent their week abroad in volunteer homes belonging to NPH. The organization takes in at-risk, orphaned youth ages three to 18 in Guatemala and eight other countries in Latin America, including Bolivia, Haiti and El Salvador. NPH’s website says they are “raising more than 3,200 orphaned, abandoned, and disadvantaged boys and girls” along with offering day school services, scholarships and meals to children in the greater community. At the NPH home in Guatemala, about 100 children are currently being served and they also have a special needs home that serves people living with disabilities.

“They give (the kids) a place to live and three meals a day. They give them an education, which is huge in Central America, so it’s a really unbelievable organization that’s making a huge difference down there,” Hanel said.

The team had a general routine each day: they’d wake up and have breakfast around 8 a.m. each day and then work on various projects around the home, which Hanel described as a large ranch, until about 1 p.m.

Their day would end around 4 or 5 p.m., when they would have dinner and then spend the rest of the evening spending time with the children of the home. Hanel said they enjoyed several games of soccer and basketball with the kids whenever they could. Sophomore Kelly Campbell added that the group played games of Uno every night, especially since the group spent so much time together and away from technology and social media as much as possible.

The group made sure that they were able to see and learn about Guatemala by visiting different locations across the southern part of the country. Campbell said that the group took two different excursions.

On a trip to Lake Atitlán,  a lake that sits in the in a volcanic crater in Panajachel, Campbell said that they met with a man named Juan who gave them information about how they were trying to preserve the wildlife and history of the lake before the group went to San Juan did some shopping and sightseeing. 

Hanel said that something that was important for him was that each of the participants were able become educated about Guatemala.

“A really cool part of this trip was the speakers that were giving a lot of background on the country and the issues that they were facing so (everyone) could get a better picture of why NPH has to exist, why these kids need help, and why there’s so much poverty in Guatemala,” Hanel said. Hanel and Campbell both said that they would be interested in making the trip a tradition for DePaul student athletes. Campbell said that they’d like to continue to grow the relationships that they have with the children in NPH’s Parramos home, but they would be open to working with NPH in different countries as well.

“Service doesn’t have to be this grand gesture of going to a third world country. We’re hoping that the nine of us can come back here to Chicago and get three of our friends to do something. That’s 27 people and we can do so much.”

 

Source: http://depauliaonline.com/2017/09/11/student-athletes-get-work-service-trip-guatemala/

Noosa District State High School students and teachers volunteered today at the Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast event held in Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headland.

The volunteers handed out water, endurance gels and bars, watermelon and bananas to the athletes as they ran down Alexandra Parade along the road.

The students enjoyed chatting to the athletes and encouraging them as they stopped in at the food station, and they received great feedback and thanks from the Iron Men and Women.

The athletes’ food was quality tested by the students, who were not impressed with the taste of the endurance gels, but the watermelon was a popular treat on such a warm day.

Community involvement in events such as this provide the students with an opportunity to work with and meet a range of people as well as developing important social skills.

 

Source: https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/ndshs-students-volunteer-at-ironman-event/3222461/

The lockers of Wisdom Lane Middle School received a pop of color on Sept. 6 as seventh-graders Annina Saccomanno and Nabiha Khan stuck more than 250 inspirational quotes and messages to the lockers of their peers.

The students thought of the Pay it Forward idea over the summer and researched different quotes and messages that they could use. They then typed them up and placed them on colorful construction paper. The girls arrived early on the first day of school to post the messages and words of encouragement throughout the hallways.

“We thought it would be a really nice thing to do because a lot of people are really nervous about starting school,” said Saccomanno.

“We wanted to do something to give inspiration and motivation to start the year on a positive note,” said Khan.

The act of kindness did not go unnoticed as students and faculty members throughout the building were pleasantly surprised at the gesture. Principal John Avena reported that many students and faculty members approached him asking who was responsible for the good deed.

“I have never seen so many people, whether it be staff or students, come to me asking who did that,” said Avena. “The act of kindness was incredible. You could see as the students were reading the messages that it put a smile on their faces.”

Avena hopes to expand on the idea and make it a tradition for the start of each school year with one of the school’s clubs taking on the project.

Photo Captions:

 

1. Seventh-graders Nabiha Khan (left) and Annina Saccomanno (right) from Wisdom Lane Middle School spread kindness by posting inspirational quotes on lockers on the first day of school.  
2. The lockers of Wisdom Lane Middle School were decorated with inspirational quotes and messages on the first day of school.

 

Photos courtesy of the Levittown School District

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island and the national non-profit organization, Swim Across America (SAA), made waves in the fight against cancer with the eighth annual SAA-Rhode Island Swim on Saturday, September 9^th at Wheeler State Beach in Narragansett, RI.   This year’s swim raised over $175,000 in total to support the work done in the Oncology Center at Women & Infants Hospital.  The Friars have raised over $22,000 this year alone, and over $150,000 in total since the swim was founded 8 years ago.

This exciting open-water swim featured appearances by tons of swimming stars, including Rhode Island resident and three-time Olympian, Elizabeth Beisel.  Athletes from Brown University, Bryant University, Roger Williams University, Providence College, and the University of Rhode Island joined together again for this year’s swim.  Neighboring student-athletes from Assumption College, Boston University, Holy Cross, Northeastern University and the University of Connecticut also participated making it the largest group of college athletes in an open-water swim in the entire country.

Providence College Head Coach and SAA-RI Board member John O’Neill credits the coaches and captains from each of the programs for continuing to join in the effort, “We would like to thank the leaders of every college program for continuing to join us helping in the fight against cancer. The big winners on this day each year are the patients who will benefit from the outstanding Doctors and Research Specialists at Women and Infants Hospital.”

Swim Across America is a non-profit corporation that runs events from Boston to San Francisco to support cancer research at the country’s finest hospitals and institutions. Proceeds from the Rhode Island swim go directly to Women & Infants Hospital, the largest and most diverse oncology service for woman in the Northeast. This will aid the hospital in providing a broad spectrum of care for gynecological and breast cancers. Women & Infants Hospital has evolved into a world-renowned, multi-disciplinary facility where clinicians uncover key answers to the questions of cancer, and focus on the needs of the patients and families.

 

About Swim Across America

Swim Across America is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to raising money for cancer research, prevention, and treatment through swimming-related events. With the help of hundreds of volunteers nationwide, as well as past and current Olympians, SAA is helping find a cure for cancer through athletics, community outreach, and direct service.

 

About Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Aplert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine. Women & Infants is the ninth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country with nearly 8,400 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country’s largest single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiology; a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Perinatal Biology by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the NRG Oncology, the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, the Neonatal Research Network, and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.

 

http://www.friars.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/091017aaa.html