Local kids pull landscape duty
Published on May 3rd, 2006
STONEHAM,MA - Most middle schoolers consider the weekend a sacred hiatus, a two-and-a-half day reprieve from a dreaded five-straight days of grammar lessons, math problems, and homework.
But for a large population of Stoneham's adolescents, last weekend was an exception to that rule as over 200 students descended upon the town's parks, playgrounds, and school grounds to scrub gymnasium floors, pick-up thousands of cigarette butts, and bag yard-waste and rubbish.
The community service weekend, sponsored by the Middle School PTO, was the adolescents' way of saying thank-you to the local businesses and citizen activists whose generosity restored the after-school programs and exploratory classes that make the school week a little more bearable.
"In these tight budget times, the Middle School seems to be hit the hardest, and it's nice to see that the community has stepped up to help the kids," explained Middle School parent and PTO member Karen Kelly.
"It was a way for the middle schoolers to say thank-you for all the support they've received from the community over the past year," the event organizer added, saying that nearly 250 parents, teachers, and students participated in the weekend long drive. "It was very exciting to see that many people participate."
According to event organizers, the middle schoolers participated in the weekend-long activity as part of the Jump-up-and-Go program, which is paid for through a Blue Cross and Blue Shield grant received earlier in the year.
The program, which was implemented after the middle school received a $9000 grant from the health care provider, is intended to encourage pupils to engage in a healthier lifestyle.
"We asked them to pledge one-hour or more of community service this weekend. Even though this was intended to say thank-you to the community, it was also meant to demonstrate that [physical] activity doesn't have to be a sport," Kelly said.
According to the mother, the three-year-grant, which provided a $5,000 sum to the middle school this year alone, has been tapped to create a wide-variety of after school activities.
But with the middle school stripped of so many programs over recent years, the money evaporated faster than anticipated.
"Because the Middle School has been hit so badly, a number of businesses [went] in to sponsor activities," School Supt. Dr. Joseph Connelly recalled.
"For example, Stoneham Bank sponsors the middle school math league," Connelly commented, citing one of the dozens of programs, such as cooking classes, the golf club, softball, weight-lifting, and drama activities that have been funded by area businesses. "That's really just the tip of the iceberg for what the community does."
Citing off some of the feats accomplished by the grateful middle school students over the past weekend, Kelly described gymnasium floors that shine with a luster that hasn't been seen for years, a rubbish free green strip along I-93 near the Stoneham border, and over 100 lawn and leaf bags stuffed to the brim with yard waste and trash left sitting at the town's recreational areas.
According to the PTO member, although some of the students reluctantly participated in the service drive once they realized the enormity of the task ahead of them, nearly every adolescent took pride in their accomplishments by the end of the day.
"Some would come to pick up their [leaf] bags with a big frown, a kind of, 'look at what their dragging me through,'" Kelly recalled.
"But they'd come back with a smile on their face and say, 'that was actually fun.' They wanted us to come look at what they had done. They were proud."
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