The RCDS Community Engagement Fellowship Program

Partner: Gigi’s Playhouse

Project: Teaching a theatre and dance class to students at Gigi’s Playhouse, an organization that supports people with different abilities. A short play will be put on each week based on a different theme. 

Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Drago, Director of Public Purpose 

Partner: Kids Helping Kids

Project: Facilitating a writing course and subsequent competition to support the education of students at the Kids Helping Kids summer program. 

Faculty Mentor:  Tatum Bell, Upper School English Teacher

Partner: Pollinator Pathways 

Project: Creating pollinator gardens in Greenwich with Pollinator Pathways, and creating a film and signage to educate the public about the importance of pollinators. 

Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Drago, Director of Public Purpose 

Partner: Girls Inc., Westchester

Project: Collecting stories from participants at Girls Inc. in the form of film, art, cultural content, and photos to create a storybook to be used for outreach and fundraising.

Faculty Mentor: Joshua Noel Rivera, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Teaching Fellow

Partner: Meals on Main Street 

Project: Building logistical bridges to allow grocery stores in the area to donate food to Meals on Mainstreet, supporting their pantry and local community. 

Faculty Mentor: Tatum Bell, Upper School English Teacher

Partner: Our New Way Garden

Project: Building a flower business at Our New Way Garden through planting and developing a new garden, as well as developing a market to sell products from the garden; additionally teaching REACH students how to grow a garden. 

Faculty Mentor: Joshua Noel Rivera, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Teaching Fellow 

Partner: Save the Sound

Project: Monitoring water quality at Beaver Street Brook, and planting species that support natural filtration to help purify the water. 

Faculty Mentor: Tatum Bell, Upper School English Teacher

Partner: Horizons at Norwalk Community College

Project: Planning a service learning day for Pre-K through Middle School students at Horizons NCC, creating a yearbook for the program, and helping with general logistics to keep the program running in the future. 

Faculty Mentor: Joshua Noel Rivera, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Teaching Fellow 

Partner: Children’s Hearing Institute

Project: Developing a mentoring and enrichment based program for children with hearing impairments, focusing on art, sports, and other activities. 

Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Drago, Director of Public Purpose

Partner: Community Resource Center

Project: Redesigning CRC’s multi-purpose room, which is used for important community training, learning, organizing, and other projects. 

Faculty Mentor: Tatum Bell, Upper School English Teacher
 

Partner: Arc Westchester, Yonkers Library, and Mount Vernon Library

Project: Developing a Renaissance Camp at Arc Westchester, Yonkers Library, Mount Vernon Library to teach children humanities in a fun way.

Faculty Mentor: Joshua Noel Rivera, Teaching Fellow–Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Partner: The Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle
 

Project: Coordinating and running a STEM-based enrichment class for students of all ages.

Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Drago, Director of Public Purpose

Community Partner: Fresh Youth Initiatives (Washington Heights, NY)

Community Partner: Backyard Sports (White Plains, NY)

Project Description: Backyard Sports, a community team sports program based in Westchester County, helps develop and sharpen athletic skills in boys and girls ages 3-18. For his project, Chris helped install a gaga pit and encouraged children to participate and play. Working in conjunction with Backyard Sports, Chris also implemented and supervised a gaga program at the Thomas H. Slater Center. Through his project, Chris was able to introduce an new athletic game to the community that is inclusive of all abilities.

Community Partner: The Nathaniel Witherell (Greenwich, CT)

Project Description: The Nathaniel Witherell is a short-term rehab and skilled nursing care center that is owned and operated as a nonprofit by the Town of Greenwich. As a 2017 fellow, Joey introduced residents to iPads, providing them with the physical technology, tech support and logistical coordination to connect residents with their loved ones. This year, Joey expanded the program by providing additional iPads to the community and teaching structured group classes how to use the technology for entertainment as well as to connect with family and friends.

Community Partner: Carver Center (Port Chester, NY)

Community Partner: The Cottage School (Pleasantville, NY)

Community Partner: Boys and Girls Club (Mount Vernon, NY)

Community Partner: WestCOP (Port Chester, NY)

Community Partner: Save the Sound (Mamaroneck, NY)

Community Partner: Carver Center (Port Chester, NY)

Community Partner: Building One Community (Stamford, CT)

Community Partner: Our New Way Garden (White Plains, NY)

Community Partners: Church of Our Saviour (Rye, NY) and International Orthodox Christian Charities (Baltimore, MD)

Project Description: IOCC offers emergency relief and development programs to those in need worldwide. Of the estimated 57,000 refugees and migrants living in Greece, more than half are women and children. Working in partnership with the Greek Orthodox Church of Our Saviour, Zoe created and assembled over 300 school supply kits to donate to schools for children living in the Syrian refugee camps in Greece. Zoe's goal for this project was to help address the education deficit for Syrian refugee children due to lack of resources in the refugee camps.

Community Partner: The Children's Village (Dobbs Ferry, NY)

Project Description: The Children's Village's is a residential school for at-risk boys, whose mission is to help vulnerable children become educationally proficient, economically productive, and socially responsible members of their communities. For his project, Alex created a catalog of educational activities that can be used with 6-11 year-old boys in pre-existing and future Children's Village programs. Through this project, Alex hoped to serve as a positive role model for at-risk youth and create a resource that will enable others to do the same in the future.

Community Partner: Port Chester Middle School Giving Garden (Port Chester, NY)

Project Description: Port Chester Middle School serves 1105 students in grades 6-8. The school's Giving Garden harvests over 1000 pounds of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables each year, which are distributed to local families in need. Alonzo worked to help sustain the school's garden, ran family volunteer sessions, and used social media to raise awareness about the garden and its mission. As a lifelong Port Chester resident, Alonzo wanted to help address food insecurity in his local community through this project.

Community Partner: Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary (Rye, NY)

Project Description: The Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary is a 179-acre wildlife sanctuary that features a shoreline on Long Island Sound, Manursing Lake, salt-marsh wetland, trails through a deciduous forest, a bamboo grove, and fields of native grasses and wildflowers. Alex completed several building projects, including a compost bin and a memorial bench, as well as repairing and maintaining trails and removing invasive plants. Alex's goal for this project was to bring together his strong interest in environmental conversation and his longstanding connection to Edith Read as a member of the RCDS cross country team and previous volunteer in the park.

Community Partner: Developmental Steps (Port Chester, NY)

Project Description: Developmental Steps is a pediatric physical therapy center offering a variety of solutions to help children with developmental or physical challenges reach their highest potential. At Developmental Steps, Paulina connected with families and learned about different approaches for assisting children with special needs. She created USOAR (Uniting Students of All Ranges), a buddy program that pairs children with special needs with high school student volunteers who will be trained to help them participate in mainstream activities. By launching this program, Paulina hoped to both help children with special needs navigate extracurricular activities and provide an opportunity for high school students to connect with and understand children with special needs.

Community Partner: Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, NY)

Project Description: The Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon is a youth development organization offering a variety of programs designed to help children learn and grow while having fun. The Boys and Girls Club runs multiple programs, including a summer camp. For her project, Faith directed a musical theater performance to introduce a performing arts component into the summer program. An avid singer, dancer, and actress, Faith wanted to expose students to all aspects of a musical theater production and help them discover their talents and work together toward a common goal.

Community Partner: The Carver Center (Port Chester, NY)

Project Description: The Port Chester Carver Center has been serving the community's children and families since 1943. Carver's mission is to build brighter futures by serving, educating, and empowering families in the community. Daniel developed and taught two introductory computer coding courses to 80 students whose school district does not offer computer science classes. He also created an original textbook to supplement students' learning. Through this program, Daniel's goal was to both teach the fundamental concepts of computer science and to inspire and elicit future interest from the next generation of coders.

Community Partner: Mamaroneck Avenue School Co-Op Camp (Mamaroneck, NY)

Project Description: Co-Op Camp is a school-based and curriculum-focused summer program serving 225 elementary school students who lack access to other area camps, as well as special needs students who receive extended year services during the summer. For their project, Owen and Alexei planned and ran the camp sports program, which would have otherwise been eliminated due to district budget cuts. They also participated in the Co-Op Camp Steering Committee, a group of community members working to sustain the camp in the future. Owen and Alexei developed this project as a way of focusing on poverty, a problem they observe on a daily basis, and giving back to their local community.

Community Partner: Carver Center, Port Chester, NY

Project Description: The Port Chester Carver Center has been serving the community's children and families since 1943. Carver's mission is to build brighter futures by serving, educating, and empowering families in the community. Ryan spearheaded the development of Carver's Tech Center, a renovated storage room converted into an inviting computer classroom. Through Ryan's leadership of the TechCorps training program, local middle and high school students built desktop computers for use in the Tech Center. Ryan's goal for this project was to make technology accessible, engaging, and fun for Carver students.