Middle Schoolers Making an Impact!
Rachel Stempel, Licensed Clinical Social Worker at 45th Street
The middle school students at Aaron School participate weekly in Alliance Club, a class that offers them the opportunity to come together and work collaboratively on community service projects. Students are divided into three sub-groups that focus on multiple projects throughout the year that benefit the students’ local communities, and this year, Alliance Club’s theme is healthy living.
During the month of February, Alliance Club hosted a school-wide food drive to serve New York City through City Harvest, one of the world’s first and largest food rescue organizations that feeds millions of New Yorkers who are struggling to make ends meet. The students created eye-catching and informational signs and posters to advertise the food drive and displayed these throughout the school hallways and common areas. They also made daily announcements over the school PA system to bring awareness to the cause, reminding students and staff to bring in non-perishable food items to drop off at the collection boxes in the lobby.
For this special project, students learned about poverty and identified different health concerns that exist throughout different communities in New York City. They also learned about the importance of nutrition to encourage their own healthy eating habits and help them to determine the best type of food items to bring in for the food drive.
The students’ initial goal was to collect 100 pounds of food donations, but this goal was smashed in just five days: ultimately, the students and staff at Aaron School collected over 200 pounds of canned and boxed foods! Thank you, Mr. Colon, for helping the mover from City Harvest to load up the truck, which required several trips up and down the hallway due to the abundance of wonderful donations. The Alliance Club students are very proud of their accomplishment and feel very lucky to be able to help their surrounding community.
