Better to give
Rutland Town students learn important life lesson early.
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Carol Barbagallo’s third-grade class at Rutland Town School was the only class in North America to receive a “Heroes in the Community” award from the Lions Clubs International Foundation Monday for a large food donation they made to the city’s food shelf in February. Photo provided |
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BY Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: May 18, 2010
RUTLAND TOWN — A global leader in humanitarian service told a class of Rutland Town School third-graders Monday that he would rather meet them than President Barack Obama.
"This is the future of our country and if we aren't going to take care of them, we're going to lose them," said Al Brandel, chairman of the Lions Clubs International Foundation.
"I'll remember this day for as long as I live," he said.
Brandel, the head of the foundation, awarded Carol Barbagallo's class of 25 8- and 9-year-olds the inaugural award in the organization's 25-year history of Lions Quest, an educational curriculum that incorporates everyday subjects into social and emotional learning and community involvement and civic responsibility.
Through the past school year, 50 teachers across the Rutland Central Supervisory Union have been using the Lions Quest program to teach students kindness and responsibility by giving to those less fortunate.
At West Rutland School, students raised $2,300 for a girl who wanted to buy a dog to detect her seizures, according to Martha Coulter, the district's school psychologist.
Proctor Elementary School students donated to the Rutland County Humane Society instead of receiving holiday gifts.
And Proctor High School calculus students met a woman in a leg cast for at least 6 months, who wanted to purchase a television.
They measured the room and determined what size would be best.
But on Monday, it was the third-grade class that was most recognized for its good deed, because of a partnership with an international humanitarian organization of 1.4 million members worldwide.
The third-graders won Monday afternoon's pizza party, prize packages, classroom credit for more curriculum materials and a plaque for exemplifying community service during a massive food donation they did earlier this year in partnership with the local Lions Club.
Out of 50 countries that use Lions Quest, it was the only award granted to a school in North America, Brandel said.
Donna Bizon of the Pittsford Lions Club nominated the class for the program's "Heroes in the Community" contest after the students collected 800 food items for the Rutland Community Cupboard earlier this year.
The youngsters collected it all within their school with the intention of making a difference outside.
The smell of hot pizza wafted from the classroom as the students peered up at their adult advisers.
The slogan "Be Kind" was posted on the classroom's wall above an easel with different words used to teach students pronunciation.
"We've learned that if you are nice to other people, they will be nice back," said 9-year-old class representative Kelsey McCullough. "It's nice to give and we feel good in our hearts."
District Superintendent Wendy Savery said $30,000 of consolidated federal grants was a worthwhile investment to train teachers how to use the Lions Quest curriculum and purchase the program for the district.
According to Coulter, it teaches students how to become better people and better learners.
"The research indicates that not only do students engage in fewer high risk behaviors (drug use and relationship violence) and exhibit fewer behavioral difficulties, but that students also exhibit significant academic gains in grades and in standardized test scores," Coulter wrote in an e-mail.
In June, 63 more teachers and staff will be trained in the social and emotional learning program, she said.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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