During freshman orientation last week at Utica Academy for International Studies, the ninth graders had the opportunity to meet each other, take part in ice breaking-type games and ask the upperclassmen a lot of questions.
It was also the perfect time for members of the Academy’s award-winning Key Club to take the freshmen under their collective wing, introducing them to some of the community service opportunities they can experience at UAIS, particularly as junior and seniors in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
In addition to rigorous college-level academic studies, IB candidates must complete 150 hours of a rigorous CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) component outside the normal curriculum as part of the requirements to earn a globally recognized International Baccalaureate diploma.
UAIS English teacher and CAS coordinator Justin Spear said the IB curriculum challenges students to “engage in global thinking on a deeper scale.”
According to Mr. Spear, fewer than two percent of the world’s high school graduates receive IB diplomas each year.
As part of teambuilding on orientation day, UAIS seniors Samantha Kaufman, Hannah Tadros, Natalia Pawluch and Spencer Kitchen lead the ninth graders in putting their stuffing and sewing skills to use making soft felt dolls known as ‘trauma dolls.’
The dolls are donated to Troy-Beaumont Hospital and used to comfort children experiencing illness, injury or emotional stress. The dolls are faceless on purpose so children make them their own by adding drawn-on faces and designs. The huggable creations can also be used as ‘cough dolls’ by adults recovering from surgery.
UAIS senior Spencer Kitchen said he hopes “children can gain a sense of hope knowing someone cares enough to put in the time to make them a doll.” His classmate Natalia Pawluch, a Key Club district official, added that the group works hard to live up to Kiwanis International’s mission to “serve the children of the world.”
