Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service hosted in Upper St. Clair
Riley Samuel, a fourth-grader at Upper St. Clair’s Baker Elementary School, checks out the decorative blanket on which she and her classmates had been working during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
Jillian and Emily Rocco, students at Boyce Middle School, show the dog toy on which they were working.
Sarah Potter, a Boyce Middle School sixth-grader, and Upper St. Clair High School freshman Lauren Tefft work on crafts.
University of Pittsburgh junior Nancy Adkins works on a dreamcatcher with Streams Elementary third-grader Kaamil Jackson.
Jenny Mazzei demonstrates how to make a tug-o-war toy for dogs.
Jenny Mazzei demonstrates how to make a tug-o-war toy for dogs.
University of Pittsburgh freshman Julia Tchourumoff works with Streams Elementary fourth-grader Jude Pagliai.
University of Pittsburgh freshman Julia Tchourumoff works with Streams Elementary fourth-grader Jude Pagliai.
Baker Elementary students Leah Levine, left, and Riley Samuel relax while working on their blanket.
Working on a decorative blanket are, from left, Jillian Seftchick, Baker Elementary third-grader; Eliza Ogrodnik, Streams Elementary first-grader; and Lilly Thompson, Streams third-grader.
Working on a Valentine’s project is Upper St. Clair High School sophomore Amy Stillwagon.
Working on a Valentine’s project are Upper St. Clair High School sophomores Sarah Howell and Kendra Perera.
A visit to the Community and Recreation Center at Boyce Mayview Park brought back fond memories for Thomas Bryant.
“When I was a kid, I used to always go out and serve on Martin Luther King Day of Service,” he said, “and I love to see it perpetuated throughout Pittsburgh.”
Bryant is site manager at the University of Pittsburgh for Jumpstart, a national early education organization that recruits and trains college students.
On Jan. 18, he brought several of Pitt’s community corps members to the recreation center for a local day of service, with Upper St. Clair elementary, middle and high school students also participating.
“It’s a great day to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King, and we set up various activities for kids to present service for his great day,” Chaz McCrommon, assistant community programs coordinator, Upper St. Clair Department of Recreation and Leisure Services, said.
Students worked on activities such as making decorative blankets for the needy, Valentine’s gifts for senior citizens, cat and dog toys for animal shelters, and dreamcatchers for, well, catching their dreams.
“I love seeing kids get involved,” Bryant said. “I love to see them be excited about service. I love them understanding the importance of this day.
Debbie Ogrodnik attended as a parent volunteer, helping with the blankets, and brought daughter Eliza, a Streams Elementary School student.
“This is the first year she could do it, because she’s in first grade,” Ogrodnik said, “I thought it was a great opportunity to show her how important it is to reach out to the community and get involved at an early age.”
Among those getting involved at the high school age were Amy Stillwagon, Sarah Howell and Kendra Perera, all Upper St. Clair sophomores.
“We are tracing these outlines of Valentine’s Day-type photos onto handkerchiefs for the people at Sunrise,” Amy explained, with plans to deliver them to the retirement community near South Hills Village.
Monica Morrison, a University of Pittsburgh junior, was one of the Jumpstart members to participate.
“Our program promotes language and literacy in underprivileged areas,” she explained. “We’ll go into the preschools and do sessions and read to the kids, and do crafts and other activities with them twice a week. As part of our service there, we also do volunteer days. So we did Pitt Make a Difference Day, and now we’re volunteering for MLK Service Day.”
Among the recreation center staff members working with the youngsters was Jenny Mazzei, who also is a middle-level education major at Duquesne University.
“I’ve been doing this program for three years now,” she said. “All these activities, they differ from year to year, just a little bit, and they’re all really great. The kids get engaged in them, and by the end, they love doing all the crafts and helping people.”
Madison Yanosky, who also is on the staff, conducted activities in the gymnasium.
“Today, we were doing cooperative games, anything that was noncompetitive,” she said.
One involved a large tarp.
“Everybody had to get on top of it, and then they had to flip it over without stepping off of it. Any time they stepped off, they had to start over,” Yanosky explained. “So they really had to just communicate and talk to each other to figure out how they were going to flip it, to do cooperative communication and teamwork. They seemed to have a good time with that.”
Bryant said he enjoyed the experience in Upper St. Clair.
“We were fortunate enough to be chosen for this project,” he said. “This group, we were told, is a new partner, and we wanted to make sure we form a good, solid relationship with them.”