The Old Rochester Regional High School Community Service Learning (CSL) Club has been busy.
The 2019-20 school year began with over 50 members joining the club, learning about volunteer opportunities to participate on their own, as well as sharing ideas for group projects to explore more during the year. The club meets once a week after school.
Under the leadership of sophomores Sally Butler and Maggie Brogioli, CSL collected 130 pairs of socks for their “Socktober” event in October. The socks were donated to the Women’s Center in New Bedford. As October came to a close, sophomore student leaders Maria Psichopaidas and Cameran Weaver inquired about collecting Halloween candy and donating it to troops abroad. Next year, they hope to raise money and send the candy from our school directly.
Interns at Gifts to Give in Acushnet, juniors Jordan Duarte and Jo Dumas also organize ORRHS CSL group visits for one Saturday each month. In November, students sorted comics and on other Saturdays they clean and organize toys, clothing, and books for local children in need.
Student leader junior Jill Langlois organized our first visit to the Happy Hope Factory in Bourne, MA in November, where students packaged special gift bags for children who are hospitalized. Students volunteered again on January 20, 2020, for the “Martin Luther King Day of Giving” event.
In December, Maria and Cameran organized our Toys for Tots collection with the special “Stuff a Cruiser” event held Friday, December 13. They were very happy to see two cruisers stuffed with toys for local children and appreciate the generosity of our Tri-Town residents in making these donations.
For our first half day of school at the high school (February 5), students volunteered for the afternoon with the Sippican Land Trust clearing brush on a trail connected to the high school. They also plan on volunteering with the Mattapoisett Land Trust on the next half-day in March.
The CSL club members and co-advisors Karen Browning and Andrea Moniz look forward to students volunteering all year long in new and on-going projects such as tutoring at the Junior High School and planning a beach clean up in the spring.
And finally, in June of 2019, we honored students who earned the “President’s Volunteer Service Award”. Thirty-one students volunteered for a total of 4,352 hours during the year (March 31, 2018 to April 1, 2019). This award, given at the national level, is based on the age of the student and the number of hours that they volunteered.
Teens: ages 11-15
Bronze (50 – 74 hours): Desmond Sinnott, Autumn Tilly
Silver (75 – 99 hours): Joseph Dumas, Emilia Pinhancos
Gold (100 or more hours): Abigail Forcier, Eddie Gonet, John Kassabian, Paige Long, Payton Lord, Victoria Perry (458 hours), Daphne Poirier, Julia Sheridan
Young Adults: ages 16-25
Bronze (100-175 hours): Brielle Correia, Carly Drew, Emily Humphrey, Ryu Huynh-Aoyama, Kaitlin Kelly, Alexa McLeod, Elise Mello, Christian Noble-Shriver
Silver (175-249 hours): Sara Campopiano, Emily Kirkham, Colin Mackin, Aidan Ridings, Claire Noble-Shriver, Geneva Smith
Gold (250 or more hours): Bethany Cabral (395 hours) Brianna Lynch (304 hours), Rachel Perry (742 hours), Mia Quinlan (332 hours), William Stark (251 hours)