A Day of Remembrance, Giving Back and Love (PHOTOS)

Students at the Meadowbrook School of Weston didn’t attend their regular classes on Friday, but that didn’t mean anyone got to sleep in.

Faculty, parent volunteers and students in grades kindergarten through eighth spent the day working on community service projects as a way to honor Martin Luther King Jr., a tradition designed to help them understand King’s legacy as well as to give back “in a way that’s meaningful to them,” said Pam Scafati, director of communications at Meadowbrook.

Working at stations with the King-inspired themes of courage, dream, hope, friends, peace and respect, students were given age-appropriate projects such as decorating cookies, sewing decorate buttons on hats and mittens and making valentines, all to be donated to various causes both local and further afield.

“It’s all very hands-on and it gives (the kids) a real sense of community,” said Stephen Hinds, headmaster at Meadowbrook for some 26 years. “So often with community service, you just do a one-time thing and don’t give it much thought once it’s over. These projects are getting kids to think about making the world a better place.”

In one room, children were decorating valentines to be sent to troops overseas and various assisted–living facilities, inscribing the cards with messages like “I love you” and “Be safe.”

“The kids are very happy to be sending cheer and love to others,” said Linda Rapciak, music teacher and director of community service. “They understand today is an opportunity to make a difference and share of themselves by making a gift.”

In another, a mixed group of children from junior kindergarten through second grade were recording messages on iPads about what respect means to them, which would later be culled into a video display.

“I think respect means everybody should treat people the way that they want to be treated,” said one student as his peers looked on.

The day wrapped with an all-school assembly and performance by George Russell Jr., a jazz pianist and professor at Berklee College of Music whose performance was themed around civil rights and interspersed with anecdotes about the struggles endured by African-Americans.

All in all, said Hinds, “This is getting kids to think about making the world a better place.”

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Students at the Country School took part in a tradition of their own by way of an all-school assembly in which principal Christine Price led a discussion about the holiday and King’s messages of peace and solving problems non-violently.

Price said the school's regular all-school montly assembly coincided with the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, giving administrators the chance to "incorporate some of the main themes of his life and work in the assembly."

"Because the children are relatively young, many are not aware yet why we are missing school on a Monday, so there's some civics information on why we observe King's birthday as a holiday," Price said. "But the most important message we wanted children to gain was that Dr. King believed in solving problems non-violently, with words rather than physical actions. This is something all of our children are learning in their Open Circle social curriculum, so it was an excellent opportunity to link the historical event with their current learning."

And elsewhere in Weston, residents prepared for another longstanding holiday tradition, the 13th annual Interfaith Citizens Advocating Racial Equality (ICARE) Martin Luther King Day breakfast at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Started originally in 2000, the event remains a community mainstay for "making sure people remember (King’s) philosophy and recognize how important his message is,” said Flora Booth, event organizer.

This year’s featured speaker is Superintendent of Schools Cheryl Maloney, who said, “I have had the privilege of hearing so many powerful speakers who shared their life stories and historical observations with wit, wisdom and poignancy. So I am very honored, but humbled, to be asked to follow them. This does provide me with an opportunity to talk about the Weston Public Schools’ educational community and the good work of our students, faculty, staff, students and parents.”