New Enfield High School Course Proves Beneficial to Kid Patients

ENFIELD, CT — A new social studies course implemented at Enfield High School this fall is already paying dividends, with youths at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center the recent beneficiaries of the great aspirations of the class.

The course, entitled “Community Action Learning,” is a project-based course where there is more “hands-on” learning, which makes it really fun for the students, and for teacher Tony Allegro as well.

"The mission of the course is it to unify members of the local community to take action regarding a certain topic of interest that will help better the lives of others," Allegro explained. "In the first quarter, our students researched and created five community projects that they designed themselves, ranging from creating a town wide field day for Unified Sports Athletes, to beautifying abandoned buildings in town, to creating holiday gift packages for long-term patients at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center."

Each group had to pitch a proposal to Allegro and other staff members to decide which idea would be selected as the actual class project.

"In doing this, the students had to research how non-profit events/organizations work, they had to look at logistics of travel and financial costs, they had to meet with school administration to see if there were any school board rules, local laws, or codes that prevent them from doing their projects," Allegro said. "They had to develop fundraisers and identify ways to pay off all expenses associated with their project, they had to try to find partnerships within the school community, like partnering with school clubs or school departments, and had to identify a list of community organizations and businesses that they could network and partner with to help them complete their project."

The winning proposal was creating holiday gift packages for long-term patients at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, a project entitled “Fill a Cart to Fill a Heart.” Once the school administration approved the project, the students had just three weeks to complete it.

"We organized our class to mirror a non-profit executive board," Allegro said. "We assigned a president, secretary and treasurer, and created sub-committees. The students then had to create an action plan, including having weekly board meetings where they learned the order of Robert’s Rules, how to create a meeting agenda, and essentially how to organize themselves as efficiently as possible."

The students took charge of the project completely, with Allegro guiding and supporting them. They made dozens of phone calls to local businesses and organizations. They organized fundraisers – like starting a school wide coin drive, and collected bottles and cans on the weekends. They called CCMC to speak with their director and coordinate the event with them. They contacted local bus companies to find out prices for transportation. They set up meetings with school principal Erin Clark and other staff members to help promote the project throughout school. They researched prices of toys and shipping costs online to find out the costs and expenses of the project.

While doing this project and networking with staff members and local groups, the students came across something that made the project extra special.

"When asking for donations, a teacher here at Enfield High School, Mrs. Mary Grout, reached out to the kids and told them she would like to make a donation," Allegro said. "She came in and spoke to our class about a fundraising project she helps run for her niece every year, called #Norastrong. She told the kids that #norastrong wanted to make a sizable donation to our project in the name of a past graduate of Enfield High named Kyla Pokorny, who passed away this spring from a long battle with cancer. Mrs. Grout told them about how Kyla created a group called Kyla’s Krusaders that would mentor and visit with children who were battling cancer and illnesses at CCMC, and it would be only fitting to do this in honor and memory of Kyla."

With a new mission, and an incredible amount of inspiration, the students were able to raise over $1,700 in just 18 days, plus about 100 toy donations.

"It is simply incredible to see these students work so hard with such passion, and it is amazing to see how incredibly generous the people of Enfield truly are," Allegro said. "From local businesses like Riley’s School of Dance, to restaurants like Pizza Palace, they all stepped up big. It was awesome to see the town come together, especially during the holiday season."

On Dec. 20, a school bus filled with students from the program, the donated toys and a $400 donation traveled to CCMC to present their semester's work to a grateful staff.

The 20 students who worked hard to successfully launch the program were Xavier Childs, Meghan Cooney, Madison Daly, Jaden Gonzalez, Sarah Haluch, Drew Holubecki, Madison Jarvis, Curtis Oliver, Antonio Ortiz, Rhianna Ouellette, Aaron Proteau, Mark Quinn, Rue Risby, Tanner Rush, Xavier Samuels, Nahum Santiago, Alyssa Taravella, Amanda Taylor, Alexandra Tomkiewicz and Sydney Watts.

Story and photos courtesy of Tony Allegro