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Batavia Middle School students learn value of service
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The Kids from room 107 are back!
That’s Lucille DiSanto’s class at Batavia Middle School (BMS), for those of you who haven’t read the September 21st article.
Lucille’s class is currently hard at work, in collaboration with BMS’ S.W.A.T. (Students Working as a Team) group, on the ‘Treats for Troops’ project. This involves the employment of students’ creative talents in making scarves, blankets, beaded necklaces, and other items to be sold at Batavia High School’s (BHS) ‘Craft & Gift Festival’ on Saturday, November 14th.
DiSanto herself founded the Troops project—with the funding of McDonald’s' ‘Mac Grant’—when the Iraq War began several years ago, and it has been going strong ever since. Proceeds go toward supplies and personal items for U.S. troops in Iraq.
At the Festival, different tables will be set up for different student groups, and one of the tables will be occupied by—you guessed it—Lucille’s class.
For their part in the project, Lucille and her class have adopted a troop that has, as one of its soldiers, a young man from Batavia (whom they will have a chance to meet when the project is done).
Having taken a leading role in the Troops project since the beginning, DiSanto now incorporates it into the larger ambition she has for her class. Her desire is to help her students develop confidence in themselves and their abilities, as well as a sense of self-worth.
‘It’s the idea of learning service to the community and to others,’ says DiSanto, when asked about the value of the Troops project for her class. ‘Learning how to give back helps you to know who you are. The more responsible you are, the more pride you feel, and the more respect you have for yourself.’
‘They [the kids] love the response they get from people when they know they’ve helped someone,’ comments Michelle Severino, one of the aides working in DiSanto’s classroom.
In addition to making/selling crafts, DiSanto’s students will also be writing short essays on what freedom means to them.
To help them get some ideas on the value of freedom, DiSanto involved her students in a teleconference with an employee of The Mariners’ Museum in Virginia. From her, they learned about the Puritans and their search for religious freedom in the New World.
Anyone interested in the work of DiSanto’s students can come and meet them on the 14th at BHS.
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