Greenwich Academy Celebrates the Tradition of Service at Ingathering

Greenwich Academy Celebrates the Tradition of Service at Ingathering

In anticipation of Thanksgiving, thoughts at GA turn toward service and a community-wide expression of gratitude. Every year, students from all three divisions prepare for the tradition of Ingathering. This assembly is an occasion to reflect on the bounty the GA community shares and the ways to reach out to serve others. Faculty and staff are asked to contribute turkeys, and each class is asked to bring in items, such as cans of vegetable or boxes of cookies, which the seniors compile and deliver in holiday baskets to 50 local families for their Thanksgiving dinners. The distribution is organized though Greenwich Social Services. In addition, toiletries and blankets also are collected and stored until Upper School students participate in the Midnight Run in New York City during the cold winter months.

This year’s Ingathering took place on Tuesday, November 22. Community service representatives from each school division reported on ongoing service projects. Head of School Molly King introduced the Lower School speakers---Evelyn Barringer, Edie Roth, Marie Salame and Sara Raghavan, who summarized the service each group participated in from collecting gently used clothing, books and toys to decorating the Mitten Tree with scarves and gloves for children in need at Head Start. The girls were especially proud of the $721.84 that they collected for UNICEF during their trick-or-treating at Halloween.

On December 20_, the whole Lower School will be doing it annual sock-stuffing and candy cracker making for Midnight Run! In the spring, as a whole Lower School project, Lower Schoolers will be collecting supplies for dogs and cats to take to animals waiting to be adopted at Adopt-A-Dog.

Head of School Molly King addressed the assembly by sharing her thoughts about GA’s longstanding tradition. Having just returned from a conference, where Shirley Tilghman, president of Princeton University, spoke about the value of mentoring, Mrs. King commented on how important this is in the GA community as well. Mrs. King gave examples that are built into GA traditions, such as bus buddies, Big and Little Sisters, the Peer Program and flower girls and their graduates on Commencement Day. She also noted that younger faculty are mentored by more seasoned teachers throughout the school. Mrs. King then introduced the last speakers for the day, Margot Mejia-Johnston and Alyssa Mulé.

Upper School Community Service president Margot Mejia- Johnston and Middle School Community Service vice president Alyssa Mulé spoke about the service projects in their respective divisions.

Alyssa reported that on Middle School service projects. The Middle School's community service branch of the SLC has focused this year on integrating community service into the girls' everyday lives.  During Community Service Day this year, the Group VII advisories went to nursing homes, and the Group VIII advisories went to nearby daycare centers.  The Groups V and VI advisories remained on campus and brainstormed ways in which they could support the local and global communities of which they are a part.  Almost every week a Group V or VI advisory travels to the Foodbank of Lower Fairfield taking with them goods that the Middle School has collected.  After delivering the goods, the girls volunteer for about an hour.  Each fifth and sixth grade advisory will have the opportunity to go off campus at least once during the year. 

The Community Service Club has also changed this year.  We generally have an activity once a month.  For example, in October we made pink ribbons to support breast cancer awareness and then had a "pink" civvies day the following day.

Coming up, there will be the Craft Fair on December 8th.  The goal is for the girls to donate at least 50% of their profits to the charity that the SLC selects.  Finally, Middle School community service will be involved in Gator-Aid. 

Margot reported that the Upper School has been dedicating its efforts in a variety of activities, including, among its many efforts, Breast Cancer Alliance, Breakfast in the City. Upper School has 28 remarkable service clubs ranging from the Breast Cancer Alliance, to Support our Troops, which already has started a drive, to Invisible Children, Art from the Start, Dance Through Life, China Care and many others.  These clubs have been active, whether it has been through volunteering, promoting awareness or hosting drives.  In addition to the clubs in school, many students participate in broader service groups and organizations outside of the Greenwich Academy community. Margot said that Upper Schoolers are looking forward to opportunities this coming winter and spring including serving two more days of serving breakfast in New York City and filling the Giving Tree. Additionally, seniors will have the opportunity to participate in the Midnight Run in February. Group IX will be starting RADD soon, when they will have the chance to participate in different activities with developmentally disabled adults.

A new project that the Community Service Board is excited about implementing in the Upper School is the Community Heart.  Similar to CIAs in the Middle School, and Daffodils in the Lower School, this project will allow us to recognize everyday acts of kindness in our school.  Students will be able to thank other students for these acts, and their messages will be delivered to their advisories and occasionally read out loud at our Monday morning meetings. 

Head of School Molly King presented the Sally Casey Award to Cameron Ruffa and Nicole Calandra, both seniors, whose outstanding community service during the summer and throughout the past few school years has impacted the lives of elderly citizens. For the past few years on Wednesdays and Saturdays girls have been going to the Carver Center in Port Chester to teach dance classes. When they chose to initiate this wonderful club as a means to share their passion for dance, these two girls had no idea the impact they would have. Having now had their students perform many times and even had very touching requests for performances by elderly adults, the Dance Through Life club that these girls started, has definitely impacted a much greater community than they originally expected.

Ingathering concluded with the singing of “For the Beauty of the Earth” by the Madrigals and Bel Canto. Then Groups I-IV shared their song of Thanksgiving.

At the end of the assembly, seniors packed picnic baskets filled to brim with all the fixings of a Thanksgiving dinner. These baskets will be delivered to 50 needy families in Greenwich with the help of Greenwich Social Services.