CLAREMONT — Stevens High School and Claremont Middle School students were busy this spring with two service projects that, while vastly different, had the same objective: Make their community better.
On a late March afternoon in a classroom down the hall from the Stevens High School entrance, brightly colored Easter bags were crowded atop several desks that had been pushed together.
About a dozen students involved with the school’s Key Club were gathered in groups of two or three. They worked to fill 400 bags with colored paper grass, chocolate, a few personal hygiene items and colored plastic eggs.
The students delivered the bags before Easter Sunday to area nursing homes including Sullivan County in Unity, Cedar Woods in Windsor, Silver Maples in Claremont, Woodlawn in Newport and the Earle Bourdon Centre, an assisted-living complex on Maple Avenue.
“It is not just Claremont. I want it focus on it being regional,” said Key Club adviser Rebecca Menard, a Stevens High social studies teacher. “They pick the time (to deliver) so they get to greet the folks, talk to them and see the benefit of their hard work.”
The annual Easter bag program is one of several service projects the Key Club takes on each year and is a favorite for some members.
“Seeing the smiles on their faces when we give them the bags is the best feeling,” said junior Shadow Burnham, 16, who joined the club this year.
While helping to assemble the Easter bags, senior Lily Eagan, 18, said it is the project she enjoys the most with her Key Club members.
“A lot of things we do, like the turkey raffle or bell ringing at Christmas time with the Kiwanis, we do separately,” Eagan said. “But the Easter bags is the one thing we do all together.”
There are about 5,000 active Key Clubs throughout the country. Key Clubs, which are affiliated with Kiwanis International, are the oldest and largest student-led service organization in the country, according to information provided by the nonprofit organization. Menard took over Stevens Key Club this year from departed teacher Matt Hammond. The club has been for more than 30 years at Stevens and the students participate in several projects every year.
Menard, a Stevens graduate, said the club has had as many as 40 students but conflicts with sports and other activities prevents many from attending regularly.
“This right here is a very dedicated corp,” Menard said, pausing to call out a request on how many bags still needed chocolate, as the students filled each one.
The students organized the entire Easter bag project themselves.
“I try to have them do as much of the planning as possible so they know what it takes to do a service project,” Menard said. “They bought the bags, built a shopping list and used their own money (later reimbursed) to buy everything. They really do take ownership.”
Club members begin planning their service projects when school begins in late summer, Menard said. The first large project of the year one is when they sell paper turkeys for $1 as Thanksgiving approaches. The club raised $500 and used it to buy turkeys for the Claremont Soup Kitchen. During the Christmas season, club members join with the Kiwanis Club to ring bells outside area stores to raise money for the Salvation Army.
The wider community reach Key Club members cultivate makes the group different from other school organizations, Eagan said.
“I feel like a lot of kids don’t have the opportunity to connect with the community they live in,” Eagan said, adding that athletics and other clubs take place mostly within the school setting. “The Key Club is unique because we are directly working with the community instead of being inside the school building. I think it is a good way for students to meet people, give back and have something to do after school that is meaningful and impactful.”
The club also sells paper shamrocks for $1 each around St. Patrick’s Day and donates the money to the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. Whether it is paper turkeys or shamrocks, club members said they almost always get a good response from residents who gladly make a purchase.
This is sophomore Raegyn Brothers’ first year with the club.
“I really want to help the community and I feel this is a great opportunity to do it,” Raegyn, 15, said. “They are always doing things and I like to donate my time.”
Sprucing up the Claremont History Museum
In late April, several Claremont Middle School students joined Menard, the Key Club adviser, and Kaylee Rogers, an American history teacher at the middle school, to help get the Claremont History Museum on Mulberry Street ready for the upcoming season. The group was there as part of Global Youth Services Day, an annual event that encourages young people to volunteer.
Menard is president of the Claremont Historical Society and Rogers oversees youth programming at the museum. The group’s work included mopping and sweeping the museum’s front porch and raking and bagging leaves. They also dusted and cataloged the large number of books on the museum’s second floor.
Eighth graders Lincoln Anderson and Lila Peppes both said they participated simply because it will make the city look better.
“I signed up to do something to help my community,” Lincoln said. “I want it to be a better place.”
The museum opens May 30th.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
