Category Archives: Community Service

Athletics Winterfest Brings the Community Together Around Basketball!

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Filed under Athletics, Community, Community Service, Student Clubs, Students

This past Saturday was a great event for our school district and community.  We hosted four basketball games (2 boys and 2 girls) both Junior Varsity and Varsity. As part of the activity, fans donated many coats for the coat drive (run through the Wildcat Foundation) and many toys for Wheatley’s National Honor Society’s toy drive.

A huge “Thank You” to Mr. Todd Richman and the Wildcat Foundation for the generous donation of pizza and water for the games—along with the big #1 foam fingers and other school spirit supplies!  Thank you for all the alumni, fans, younger students and parents who came out to support our teams.  Thank you as well to our Varsity Cheerleaders and Varsity Dance team whose performances entertained the crowd!

[Thanks to Michael Scaturro for the write-up and photos!]

Safe Halloween for our Youngest Community Members!

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Filed under Community, Community Service, Student Clubs, Students

After a day of Halloween Fun in school, scores of Wheatley students worked to transform over a dozen classrooms into a decorative place for trick-or-treating, games and “frights” for the younger students in our community. With the involvement of many of Wheatley’s different student clubs, classroom were decorated by one of the clubs. Treats were available in each room for the young trick-or-treaters, who had a terrific time!

Thank you to our 8th Grade Advisors, Courtney Clarke and Gena Topping, along with our Student Senate Advisor, Allison Chanin-Bermudez, for their work coordinating the evening. Thanks as well to all of the wonderful clubs who contributed to the fun.

Thanks to our friends at Island Photography for some of the photos!

Students Tend to Michelle’s Garden on our Day of Service and Learning

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Filed under Community, Community Service, Students

Michelle Nourmand, a member of the Class of 2015, died on 1 July 2014 after a long and brave battle against cancer. An exceptionally kind, thoughtful and generous young woman, Michelle is remembered by all who had the fortune of getting to know her. Last year, we remembered Michelle in a variety of ways: a memorial celebration, an alumni basketball game and the creation of Michelle’s Garden.

As part of this year’s Day of Service and Learning, Mrs. Lauren Silverstein supervised students in the tending of Michelle’s Garden.

[Thanks to Mrs. Silverstein for the photos.]

Students Create Pillow Cases for those in Need During our Day of Service and Learning!

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Filed under Community, Community Service, Students

With the support of All People Quilt, the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine sponsors the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. Through this challenge, individuals put their sewing skills towards creating pillowcases that will then be donated to local charities.

As part of our 10th Annual Day of Service and Learning, students spent the day creating pillowcases! Under the leadership of Michelle Chalfen and Randi Israel (assisted by Mrs. DeBenidittis and Mrs. Kirschner), students had a wonderful time creating some beautiful pillowcases!

Students Replace SWS Planting Beds during our Day of Service and Learning!

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Filed under Community, Community Service, Curricula, Students

Wheatley’s School-Within-A-School is a democratic, student-run learning community that provides innovative learning and leadership opportunities for students. Many

A number of years ago, SWS began a garden unit and created plant beds for organic farming. Those planting beds were made of repurposed wood and served the school well for the past eight years. As part of this year’s Day of Service and Learning, students built new planting beds to replace the original ones that were simply worn out. Additionally, new soil was added to the beds, and the entire area was cleaned.

A huge “thank you” to Mr. Clarke, Mr. Storck, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Henao and Mr. Chisholm for their leadership of what proved to be an incredibly productive group of students!

(Thanks to Pat Clarke for some of the pictures!)

Rise Against Hunger on our Day of Service and Learning!

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One of the many activities held during our 10th Annual Day of Service and Learning was in collaboration with the organization Rise Against Hunger.

As described on its website,

Rise Against Hunger is driven by the vision of a world without hunger. Our mission is to end hunger in our lifetime by providing food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable and creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources.

Working together, students prepared 10,000 prepackaged meals. These dehydrated, high protein and highly nutritious meals are used in crisis situations around the world. Each meal package serves six people.

A huge “Thank You” to Peter Crisci, Courtney Clarke and Allison Chanin-Bermudez for leading this activity!

[Thanks to Mr. Crisci for some of the photos!]

Pumpkin Patch Help on our Day of Service and Learning!

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Filed under Community, Community Service, Students

As part of our 10th Annual Day of Service and Learning, a group of students and staff members volunteered at the Pumpkin Patch at The East Williston Community Church.

Students worked together to sort, organize and clean pumpkins in preparation for their sale to the community.  In addition, the students made small sales, carried pumpkins to customer cars, raked leaves and interacted with members of the community.

It was a terrific day of helping in our community!

[Thanks to Liza Laurino for the photos!]