@HumansofMedford on Instagram is mostly focused on individuals in the community of Medford who have been historically marginalized, or are community leaders. Ryleigh takes pictures of the people we interview, posting those pictures to the page along with a short quote from the person’s interview, just like @HumansofNY. The stories these people tell on our page range from why these people love their jobs, to how they met their life partners, to participating in a workers’ strike. @HumansofMedford was made to highlight the diversity of perspectives and lives of our fellow community members, and there are new posts every week! Be sure to check out Humans of Medford and follow them on Instagram! Suggestions for interviews are also appreciated.

As part of the Medford High School Tennis Team, Amishika, Shubhecchha, and Sarah attend practices, trainings, and competitions at a local park near the high school known as Dugger Park. The only problem about the park is that there are no benches, nor any other sitting areas besides the dirt and broken concrete surrounding the tennis courts. They hope to build benches at Dugger Park, and to later expand the project to other local parks in Medford.

The Black Female Empowerment Workshop provided the young black community in Medford with mentors and role models. The workshop consisted of a series of panels with three successful black women. These speakers talked about their life: the struggles they have faced and the obstacles they had to overcome. With their project workshop, Sarah, Ivy, Kaela, and Gemma hoped that they achieved their goal of empowering the young black women in the Medford community.

The Medford Science for Shooting STARS (Science, Technology, and Applied Research) is a STEM enrichment program geared towards exposing local elementary school students to fundamental concepts of biology, physics, and chemistry through hands-on experimentation and demonstrations. After noticing very few opportunities to explore science in elementary and middle school, Maha and Sophie decided to open Medford’s chapter of the STARS program, especially aimed to help young females and underrepresented minorities explore science.

From consistently finding himself thinking about why people live in turmoil with one another and how the world has gradually grown more hostile, Aaron Olapade was determined to make that unending cycle of life a little better through Medford High Speaks and Listens, a discussion based program. He wanted the students of Medford High to communicate with one another and to have a better understanding about what we, as a community, can do to assist each other with their high school careers. As a person of color, Aaron was concerned about issues in our country and about those who have been underrepresented- leading him to envision making the world a place where people are willing and able to treat all people with the same amount of respect that they would with their family or close friend.

The Hunger Project uses local churches as venues for food drives, after which Oxfam Hunger Banquets are held, where members of the community attend and eat for free. The banquet includes a simulation on how different classes of people eat around the world, encouraging participants to think about world hunger and poverty. Through the Hunger Project, Joe, Aldo, Marco, and Harrison also hope to strengthen bonds within the Medford community between people of all backgrounds and ages.

Passionate about the topic of restorative justice, Maya Gomez-Coultas began the Restorative Justice Initiative in the 2016-2017 school year, aiming to promote the idea of repairing harm caused by conflicts rather than focusing on punishments. The initiative is working on building a guide for teachers to understand the principles of restorative justice and implementing them in the classroom. Restorative Justice provides an opportunity for students to talk about all sides of the conflict while still being held accountable for their actions. Maya wants to focus on how each student feels and their personal situations. Her program promotes listening and trust, as well as a better environment for the school. Using restorative justice, she believes, will lessen the risk of future conflict and will benefit everyone in the school.

As Seen Through Medford is a book created by Justin Tseng, Sarah Abdulkerim, Tamar Brandes-Krug, and Felipe Oliveira in order to explore the topic of stereotyping in Medford. Members of the Medford community are interviewed about stereotypes they face- whether it is based on race, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. A portrait is paired with a shortened version of the interview in order to better help the reader visualize the person about whom they are reading. This serves to humanize the subjects and better convey their stories. The title sets Medford and its society as a lens through which people view others. This book is important to Medford, especially in such times such as now, because stereotypes hinder societal progress and this book shows how even a forward-looking, diverse city has its flaws as well.

The Crayon Project sent school supplies down to schools in Guatemala in order to make it easier for families to send their children to school. Niamh, Haley, and Courtney felt grateful for the educational opportunities they have as teenagers in America, and wanted to extend that same opportunity to children who do not have the resources at hand. They raised awareness for these children through their drive.

Tech Time is a project started by Sandra Figueroa and Meghan Bouchie. The program takes place at the senior center in Medford Square, the Council on Aging. They meet once a month with the seniors and help them use their electronic devices such as phones, laptops, and tablets. As time goes on, technology advances and it is important to keep everyone updated. Many seniors want to keep in touch with their family members through Facebook or email, or simply want to know how to use their new phones. Tech Time helps seniors figure out their electronic devices, and in return, the members get to hear their stories and make friends. Sandra and Meghan chose to do this project because they have seen how their own family members have struggled with new technology and thought that they should help other people in the community.

Students walked behind the Andrews Middle School to the path along the Mystic River. There, students participated in an activity that tests and builds on knowledge of their local ecosystem at the same time doing physical activity that keeps students engaged and learning in the activity. This lesson’s main goal was to inform students of their natural surroundings and make them not afraid to explore, Also, with this newfound curiosity, students will want to protect the forests and will appreciate the gift that we have right outside our door. In the classroom, the students had a lesson about the transfer of energy in living things. When participants headed outside, they drew and took down observations of the organisms they found along the walk. As a class, in a span of fifteen minutes, they found common organisms like garlic mustard, an invasive plant, as well as rarer species like a juvenile peregrine falcon. When the class went back inside, they discussed what they saw and talked about where these organisms would fit in a food chain. At the end, the Mystic River Student Interactive Activity encouraged students to continue to visit the Mystic River and the Middlesex Fells.

The Selfie Project is an extension of the Dove Campaign. It is a scaled-back version of the Selfie Project that was done at Medford City Hall in 2013. Its goal is to promote the beauty and diversity of Medford High School and to show that you don’t need a filter to be beautiful; you are beautiful just they way you are. During the 2016-2017 school year, the project was completed at Medford High School byElizabeth Carey and Luiza Barbosa. Students could put their selfie up on a board in the main lobby while other students could write nice complimentary post-it notes next to the selfies. In the 2017-2018 year, Aniya Crump, Joey Leonforte, and Courtney Cutillo took over the Selfie Project.

Socks and Gloves were given to students in need at the Columbus. The remanding donations were donated to Cradles to Crayons.

Philip Catanzano raised $120 for American Red Cross. He organized a Harry Potter Book Raffle during the Columbus Elementary School’s Literacy Night.

Sophia is a baby girl who was born with a rare neurological disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Her condition encouraged her parents to start The Sophia's Cure Foundation, dedicated to assisting research in finding a cure for SMA and helping to support families affected by the disease. With Sophia's birthday coming up, 17 CCSR students made birthday cards to send to her.

Brooks School 4th graders Travers Moodie and Benjamin Tuco are student leaders and members of the Brooks Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. They started a Homeless Supply Drive to benefit the Boston and surrounding area’s homeless. The supplies were organized by the students and donated to a local homeless shelter for distribution. The items collected were shampoo, toothpaste/toothbrushes, deodorant, lotion, soap, lip balm, brushes/combs, socks, lightweight snacks (granola bars), small water bottles, hand sanitizer, scarves/hats/gloves, small first aid kit, and mints/gum.

Brooks School third graders Valerie Bzomowski and Carina Lewis are student leaders and members of the Brooks Center of Citizenship and Social Responsibility. They asked Mayor Muccini Burke for her advice for a worthwhile community project. The mayor suggested welcoming home our returning Medford veterans. The girls embraced this idea with open arms. Each month the girls receive a list of the returning Medford veterans. They visit each soldier and welcome them home with an American flag, personally written note, a box of homemade cookies and a big heartfelt thank you.

Brooks School third graders Lila Graham, Margaret Owens, and Norah Berson are student leaders and members of the Brooks Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. They are in the process of constructing a Little Free Library for the Brooks School property. The library is a “give a book, take a book” free book exchange. Anyone may take a book or bring a book to share. The wooden box library will undoubtedly bring our community even closer together and allow everyone a chance to share their favorite books. The library is scheduled to have a grand opening in the Spring of 2018.

Brooks School fourth graders Anna Schlenker, Kaitlyn Downs, Lila Armit, and Mia Armit are student leaders and members of the Brooks Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. They organized a fundraiser to benefit the Boston Children’s Hospital. The girls held an amazing bake sale on March 11th at the Running of the Leprechauns 5K Road Race. They sold delicious homemade cupcakes and cookies. The girls sold out of every item and raised a grand total of $232 for the hospital! They had a blast participating and are already talking about doing it again next year.

Nertha and Tahjanae look up to the female role models at the McGlynn Middle School, their teachers. These girls are young, mature and exploring what it means to be independent thinkers. They’ve had three years watching their female teachers model what it means to be strong women and want to bring their awesomeness to the community! Over the course of the school year, they have met individually with these strong women and had in-depth conversations about what it means to be a strong woman. They are compiling these interviews and creating a book on these inspirational ladies.

A drive was organized for gently used books to be donated for children in hospitals. On the left, Ishita, Tosia, Anayah, Davianna, and Brianna pose with a collection of the donated books. On the right, Sydnee, Emma, Xavier, and Soha sort through the donated books in order to prepare them for delivery.

Letters of appreciation were written and sent to servicemen and women in order to thank them for serving our country. Here, Carissa, Abbey, Jemimah, and Emma have finished their letters of thanks and are ready to send them out.

In order to help out at the Northeast Animal Shelter and Kitty Connection adoption center, a drive was organized for donations such as towels, linens, food, litter, etc.

CCSR senior Stella Eliopoulus's project was to drive donated goods all the way down to Houston, Texas in order to help the victims impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

For the cold winter months, these CCSR members encouraged our entire school to donate new or gently worn coats, scarves and gloves with daily reminders on the morning announcements. The successful project resulted in 80+ coats, and 20+ hats and gloves that were collected and distributed to local homeless shelters. These opportunities gave us all a chance to reflect on being thankful for what we have and sharing with those less fortunate.

McGlynn Middle School students Kristopher Rothermel and Pedro Zeferino focused on informing the student body on how to approach counselors in the McGlynn guidance department. This is important because many students are afraid to talk to an adult because they believe they will be judged. "I’m hoping this project will open up to kids that have bad thoughts, or have hurt themselves in the past that need to talk to someone. Also, a lot of kids think they’re alone but they’re not." The two began by interviewing guidance counselors with frequently asked questions, and then shared this information with the students at the McGlynn.

A group of students felt strong that animals should be able to feel safe and comfortable around people and their environment. They raised money to donate to the Animal Rescue League of Boston by selling lollipops during lunch hours. Information about the ARL and the adoption process of animals was attached to the lollipops, educating our donors with a small piece of information about ARL. For example, some of the lollipops had “Adopt, Don’t Shop!” written on them. "We feel the need to do this because we feel in our hearts that this matters."

Students Danayara Torres and Brayan Solis wanted to help out the single, pregnant mothers within the Medford community. In partnership with the McGlynn Middle School Student Council, the two students held an event each day of Spirit Week. A theme was highlighted upon each day and participation cost $1. All money raised went towards helping single pregnant mothers within the Medford community.

Fourth graders Quinn MacLean Albee and Jane Wyman gave each Brooks’s classroom a penny jar. Each classroom collected as many pennies as they could. At the end of the challenge, the students collected the coins, and in the end, every class was a winner because all the money collected was donated to the Boston Children's Hospital.

Third graders Erin Alves and Margaret Owens, along with fourth graders Valerie Bzomowski and Carina Lewis continued last year’s successful program, Welcome Home Medford Veterans. Each month the girls received a list of returning Medford veterans. They visited each soldier and welcomed them home with an American flag, a personally written note, a box of homemade cookies, and a big heartfelt thank you.

Fourth graders Grace McLaughlin, Norah Berson, and Evelyn Yeh made flower boxes for the Buddy Coholan Center for Alzheimer's in Medford. They donated the boxes in spring when the flowers were best. They did this so people that can’t remember things could look at something pretty and hopefully be a little happier.

Fifth graders Mia Armit and Anna Schlenker shared recent research on the dangers of too much screen time to the Brooks population. The project’s aim was to lower the amount of student screen time.

Second grader Lorcan Grehan and third grader Patrick Waldron focused on entertaining the elderly. They performed magic, plays, games, and jokes at local nursing homes for the residents. They entertain the elderly as well as bringing a little extra happiness into their lives.

Third graders Audrey Adkins and Nadia Aquil baked homemade cookies for a bake sale. The money they raised went to the LUNGevity Foundation to help people with lung cancer.

Fifth graders Kaitlyn Alves and Lila Armi organized a fundraiser to benefit a local homeless shelter. The girls held a bake sale at the Running of the Leprechauns 5K Road Race. They sold delicious homemade cupcakes and cookies. This was the second year the girls sold baked goods for a worthy cause.

Students helped raise awareness about allergies during Halloween time. They created flyers to inform families and the community about the Teal Pumpkin Project. “The goal of the Teal Pumpkin Project was to spread awareness of giving out non-food treats for kids with food allergies on Halloween,” said Nathan Quinn. The students hung flyers around the school and sent flyers home to Columbus families. The flyers listed the Top 10 Food Allergens and gave suggestions for non-food items to give out. “It was important because kids with allergies might not go trick-or-treating without the Teal Pumpkin Project and more awareness means more houses for kids with allergies to trick-or-treat at,” expressed Gloria Babish. Charlotte Foti reported that “On Halloween I saw 3 teal pumpkins. That made me feel really good.”

One student noticed that when she visited the Little Free Libraries in the area, there was a lack of children’s books to borrow. The group decided to collect books in order to add more children’s books to the Little Free Libraries around town. Joshua Pereira expressed that “I felt happy and proud to help on this project.” The students collected 110 books! Salvi Tello reported that, “A lot of books were donated to the school. Then we counted all the books. We all took some books to the Free Libraries.” Amalia Weyant says “It made me feel happy because it felt like a very nice thing to do. Some people don’t have very many book and we can give them some.”

This group of students wanted to help individuals who were hungry and homeless. They asked students from the Columbus School to donate their spare change. The students collected $290 worth of coins. The money was donated to the Boston Rescue Mission. This money will provide 130 nutritious meals for homeless individuals. Lily Carmelo stated that “CCSR makes me feel proud that we can help people and families in need.”

This group decided to raise awareness about the Clothing/ Textile bins that are placed around Medford Public Schools. This program generates a rebate of $100 per ton on textiles collected. The money goes to Medford’s PTO. The group collected multiple bags of clothing/ textiles to donate and raised awareness about the bins. Charlotte Foti states, “I thought it was really fun to help people in need and get a lot of scraps… It worked great!”

2nd-graders Ryan and Joseph wanted to do something to thank our troops overseas, and they knew they wanted to do something with an art component to it, so they decided on making cards to send to soldiers for the holidays. Under the expert guidance of MHS CCSR members Brittany and Laura, Ryan and Joseph each made construction paper cards. They decorated their cards with pictures and wrote nice messages inside. A few students from other groups who were done with their work also joined in to make cards as well. We sent the cards via Operation Gratitude, an organization that sends care packages and letters to troops overseas.

This group of 4th-grade students organized a winter coat drive for Cradles to Crayons, a local nonprofit that provides children and families who are homeless or otherwise in need with clothing and school supplies. They designed a flyer for their coat drive and had it sent home with students, and held their drive the week before Christmas vacation. They collected about 20 coats to be donated! We arranged for a Cradles to Crayons employee, Chris, to come and pick up the coats during the school day so that the group got to meet him!

This trio of compassionate 4th-graders organized a donation drive for two local animal shelters, the Northeast Animal Shelter and The Kitty Connection. To publicize the drive, they made a video for classroom teachers to show to their students. They filmed a video advertising the drive was shown in classrooms to kick off the drive. They also designed flyers to send home with students on the same day that teachers showed the video. They asked people to donate used towels, blankets, and newspaper (items that the shelters need to line cages), as well as pet toys and food.

These 3rd and 4th-graders decided they wanted to put together care packages for homeless people. They started by looking online for ideas for items to include in the care packages. Once they had come up with a list, they designed posters that they hung up around the school, as well as a flyer that they sent home with students, outlining the items they needed. Through online research, they identified a local homeless shelter called Medford Family Life Education, and this is where they decided their donations would go. Once the donations had all come in, they organized them into individual care packages in ziploc bags. At some point soon, they will present their donations to a representative from the shelter.

The Roberts CCSR Club recently held a soup drive. They partnered with the Souper Bowl of Caring to collect cans of soup for the Friends of Francis Food Pantry. Student members created posters and a flyer to spread the word throughout the school community. The students collected 385 cans of soup in total!

In an effort to both beautify the school and give to the elderly citizens of Medford, the CCSR members of the Curtis Tufts have built boxes behind the school in the Community Lot. With the help of their Science teacher, students planted and tended to flowers in these boxes during class. Once they bloomed, they were cut & delivered to a nursing home and the elderly center in Medford Square.

Diversity Day is a student-run festival, a day to celebrate the diversity and inclusion of Medford. Sarah, Luiza, and Rubia have worked alongside many community members to make the festival as memorable as possible. This year, the event expanded the repertoire of cultural singers and performers of all backgrounds in Medford, as well as cultural foods and corporations that specialize in diversity and inclusion and who also are a big part in Medford. The goal of Diversity Day was for everyone to enjoy the diverse community of Medford and learn something new while at the festival.

Project Little Library is an initiative that was set forth to spread little libraries around the city. They are in a sense mini public libraries, but the catch is there is no need for a library card or fees. You see a book you like in the library? Simply open the door and take it, no questions asked. If you do not like it, just return it or place it in another. Same goes if you do not want a book anymore, just place it in the library and leave it there. The goal is to spread the love of reading and to bring the community together by giving back! Each library has a bulletin board as well as decorations by local charities and schools.

Prisons throughout the U.S. incarcerate people of color at alarming rates and grossly mistreat and abuse LGBTQ+ prisoners. To combat this injustice, Senior Antonia Collins collaborated with the organization Black and Pink to write letters to queer prison inmates of color. "Many of the mail’s recipients have been abandoned by their families because of their sexual orientation or gender identities, and thus receive no mail on days when many other inmates get visits, calls, or letters from family." A day was hosted by the Black and Pink organization at Medford High School in which all students were welcomed to come after school and write letters. After the activity, Black and Pink sent all of the letters to their respective prisons and the individual inmates have received them.

This year, seniors Daria Agrba, Ximena Valderrama, Meghan Smith, Kim Sinthara decided to donate their voices. There are millions of people that do not have an ability to express themselves verbally and use computer generated voice to do it for them. "We want to be part of the organization that gives people a choice of the voice to make it more personal." People with various backgrounds would be able to record themselves and give someone a voice. This year, they did their part in recording various words and phrases, each giving someone a voice. In turn, they helped to spread the idea around the community and got others involved as well.

With a focus on senior citizens, Ben Verity, Galvin Falvey, and John Falco traveled to a nursing home to talk, spend time, and have fun with the elderly. "We feel that many senior citizens do not get the chance to see their families every day, and we wish to combat the extreme loneliness that may come from few interactions with people." The group visited the nursing home bi-weekly with the intention of spreading happiness. "It may be a small project, but it certainly brings a smile to everyone's face, including ours." The group also intended to create a lasting impact within the senior citizen community, leaving an opportunity for others to visit the senior center in the years to come.

Seniors Lauren Parziale and Ryan Heard gathered donations for the food pantry held at St. Francis Church every Thursday from 2:30-4:30. The food pantry is separate from the church, therefore all donations went directly to future events. The food pantry helps the citizens of Medford who have a hard time affording their own groceries. Any donation or purchase from the future fundraisers would be greatly appreciated, especially during the holiday seasons.

This year, the Le Club Glou-Glou (the sound a turkey makes in French) continued a project the French 2 Honors class started in 2017. During the holidays, many families find themselves with limited resources to provide for their household, specifically with holiday-themed meals. "At Thanksgiving, when we gather with our families to give thanks and be grateful for what we have, many of our fellow students may not have this opportunity. We hope to help our own Medford High School families take part in a proper and festive Thanksgiving meal." This student-run project, provided multiple families with a basket full of everything needed for a Thanksgiving meal, in hopes that it would bring their families together and give them the opportunity to take part in the national American holiday.

MHS Students Brittany Awad and Laura Silva volunteered their time to help out the kids at the McGlynn Middle School's CCSR Program. "We help the CCSR kids with their projects and show them how to create them" During the CCSR meetings, the two students gave guidance to two groups, one focused on anti-bullying and the other on honoring the veterans.

This year, students Kathleen Campbell and Mariana Plata organized donations that were sent to a nonprofit shelter on the border of Mexico. "Many families that are trying to get through immigration or are rejected must stay in these facilities. We feel it is our responsibility to help these individuals through their struggles."

This year, students Kaliyah Sautier and Victoria Macaluso raised money for the children living in an impoverished village in Tanzania. With the money they raised, they bought and donated toys for the children, as well as canned food and clothing for the families.

Every year, the McGlynn Elementary School hosts an Ethnic Pride Week to teach children about the importance of their cultural background and learn to be accepting of others for their own cultures. This year, students Tia Belotte and Shruti Sood created a lesson plan centered around diversity and taught four classes of third graders during their week of ethnic pride. They played "diversity bingo" and had conservations with the students which taught them facts about countries around the world and learned about the cultures that can be found in the community as well.

This past winter, Nouha Elyazidi ran a toy drive for the Boston Children's Hospital. "The children in the Boston Children’s Hospital already have such a hard time dealing with their illnesses and it would be great to put a smile on their faces." Nouha set out to do her part in making sure everyone had a happy and joyous holiday season by gathering and delivering toys to the children at BCH just in time for the holidays.

In order to combat the chains of pet stores that receive animals from mass breeders who mistreat them, a group of students started the Adopt, Don't Shop campaign. "Some breeders perform experiments on their animals, like seeing what freezing temperatures they can withstand. The pet stores know this, and still continue to buy their animals from them. We want to spread awareness to what you’re doing if you buy an animal from a pet store." These students set out to educate the public on a better alternative, adopting from a rescue. In addition to raising awareness, the group raised funds for rescues shelters so they could take in more animals instead of them being forced to go into chain pet stores. They also made animal toys and treats and donated supplies to local rescues, including Kitty Connection, Animal Rescue League of Boston, and the MSPCA.

On Thursday, September 13th, a series of gas explosions imploded throughout the towns of Lawrence, North Andover and Andover. There was one fatal casualty and over 25 others injured. The initial explosions and subsequent fires affected over 40 homes. Many families were forced to evacuate without a chance to grab their necessities. After hearing about this disaster, students Tia Belotte and Nicole Chin collected donations from around the Medford community, receiving $405 in checks and over 200 bags of donations of blankets, socks and other needs. On Sept. 21, Nicole, her parents and Mr. Skorker rented a U-Haul truck, drove to Lawrence and dropped off the donations to Lawrence Senior Center and Debbie’s Treasure Chest.

This year, seniors Brendan McCusker and Sofia DiMeo ventured out to raise money for the Medford police station. A community day was held for the Medford police, family, friends, and supporters in the community. "The police station does not have much money for funding. We want to change that." Throughout the year, the students contacted as multiple local businesses to donate food and resources for the event. Their intent was to bring the community together as one and shine a light on how important our policemen are to Medford.

This year, senior Marco MacElhiney and sophomore Joey Ruemenapp combined their passions by hosting a student and staff charity soccer tournament within the high school to raise funds for a village in Ethiopia. "We think this is a great community experience to show school pride, play soccer, and at the same time fundraise for a good cause." The village they fundraised for recently went through a drought, so all money went towards providing water, supplies, and more for the people.

With the political and national development over recent years, culture and diversity have become pertinent aspects in today’s societies. Diversity Week in Medford High School was run completely by Medford CCSR students, aimed towards uniting the Medford community. This project aimed to highlight Medford's rich culture and provide both organizations and students an opportunity to connect with each other. Medford is unique among other surrounding towns and cities, with representation hailing from Brazil, Tibet, Italy, Ireland, China, Germany, Japan, Haiti, Spain, Vietnam, and many other countries. Throughout the week, the CCSR ran activities and events that give students the opportunity to bond, educate peers on their own cultural background, and learn from others and their cultures. Some of this years events included a Community Fair, a special guest panel, and a special movie showing of "Crazy Rich Asians".

This group decided to hold a yarn drive at the Columbus Elementary School. They collected about 100 balls of yarn and 4 knitted hats. They donated all the yarn and knitted goods to The Knitting Connection Inc. All the yarn will be made into clothes for families who need it. Abby says, “It’s important because yarn is being knitted into clothes that help people in need.”

This group decided they wanted to help children in need by collecting toys. The students were very concerned that other children might not have many toys to play with. The group collected 6 huge bins of toys and donated them to the organization Cradles to Crayons.

A High School CCSR student is building new Little Free Libraries around Medford. His hope is to put a child-created bookmark in every book! The CCSR students have been working hard to make as many bookmarks as they can! They created over 60 bookmarks for the Little Free Libraries

This group decided wanted to run a School Supply Drive for Cradles to Crayons. They wanted to help collect items that could go in donated backpacks for students in need. The students collected crayons, markers, binders, folders, pencils, scissors, erasers, paper clips, construction paper, and lunch boxes.

A group of students were upset to hear/see the negative video challenges that were posted on the internet. They decided that they would create a positive challenge for students the Columbus School. They created positive challenge lists for students in grades K- 3. They then awarded prizes to students who completed the challenges on the list.

After visiting family members in a nursing home, these students decided that they wanted to cheer up seniors living there. They decided to create bright, inspiring posters that were hung around the facility to brighten the resident’s home.

These 5th grade members of the CCSR decided to make tissue paper flowers to brighten up the resident’s rooms at the Courtyard Rehabilitation Center in Medford. They researched how to create the flowers by watching video tutorials. They then taught the other members of the CCSR Club how to make the flowers. Each student also decorated flower pots to put the flowers in. Mr. Johnson assisted the students in assembling the pots. The students created 140 flower pots.

2nd & 3rd Grade CCSR students partnered with Operation Gratitude to create a letter-writing campaign at the Roberts. They encouraged all students at the Roberts to write a letter to a “hero”, thanking them for their service. A “hero” was defined as a veteran, active duty soldier or any first responder. They highlighted information sheets and discussed letter writing guidelines for each classroom. Students also created posters to promote the campaign. Letters were mailed to Operation Gratitude in early June.

These students wanted to create “Busy Bags” for a local hospital. The bags are to help keep children stay “busy” as they wait for family members to receive treatment or while visiting loved ones. To create the bags the students first had to hold a fundraiser to raise money to purchase the bags and their contents. They decided to sell iced coffee, pizza, drinks, and snacks during lunch to the teachers at the Roberts. Students used the money to purchase the bags and items to fill them. They labeled each bag and delivered the bags to Winchester Hospital at the end of May.

This group decided to encourage the whole McGlynn Middle School to wear blue on April 2nd for National Autism Awareness Day. They wanted to spread awareness due to personal experiences and to help kids who have Autism knowing that the McGlynn Middle School is supporting them. They donated the money they raised to an organization called Autism Speaks raising $69 which meant 69 teachers and students wore blue!

Yousef Chalabi held a raffle to donate money to the Jimmy Fund. The Jimmy Fund takes money that they are raising and donating to pediatric cancer research and patients. He sold raffle tickets for $1 each and $5 for an arm length. He raffled off two prizes, an autographed photo by Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts and an autographed photo by Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower.

This group of enterprising first graders wanted to help children and adults that were facing homelessness. They brainstormed a list of supplies that they believed would be helpful and also did a little computer research to come up with more ideas, with the help of PTG mom Renee Hanley. They decided that they would like to raise the money to purchase sample sizes of essential supplies that they could donate. The first graders came up with the idea of having a “decorate a bookmark” table at lunches for a week. They made the blank bookmarks and worked at the table assisting peers in bookmark designs. They combined forces with a few other groups and raised over $140! Many supplies were purchased, bagged and donated to the local homeless shelter.

This group of second graders with a love of reading wanted to spread the joy to students that had a challenge reading. They chose to raise money to purchase books that offered both print and braille for preschool children with vision impairments. They joined forces with a few other groups to run a “decorate a bookmark” table at school during lunch. Before they could sell the bookmarks, however, they had to make a few hundred corner bookmarks. They got really good at this! Along with their CCSR peers, they were able to raise over $140! The students then went online to locate just the right books. They ordered some great books which will be donated to a Medford preschooler with a vision disability.

This group of students also wanted to help the homeless and wanted to combine gardening with their help. They chose several vegetables to grow that they started in school and planned to move to the community garden behind the McGlynn in the spring. They consistently watered and cared for sprouts that continued to grow and thrive. The vegetables got moved outside in the spring and will be harvested when they are full grown. The vegetables will be given to a local agency providing food for less fortunate individuals.

Inspired by the students who collected donations for local animal shelters earlier in the year, this group decided to do another fundraiser for local animal shelters. Using the money collected from our bookmark-decorating fundraiser and our “penny wars” fundraiser, these students purchased a variety of high-need items for local animal shelters.

The students in this group wanted to brag a little about how wonderful they think Medford is! They researched multiple categories of things which would be of interest to children in Medford and put together a flyer that will be made available to other children. They included offerings at the library, parks, and schools in Medford, restaurants and fast food places that would appeal to children. They also listed different sports you could participate in Medford as well as locations kids go to swim or skate. And, of course, they included ice cream places!

CCSR students at the Andrews stayed after school once a week to sell snacks and successfully raised $100 for Kitty Connection in Medford. These funds helped the non-profit organization to care for the animals in the shelter in hopes for them to be adopted in a forever home. The extra $50 raised was donated to the Red Cross in Boston.

Students Jenny Lu and Joseph Schmidt paired up with students Liam and Jasmine at the Brooks Elementary School in order to help them with their project, In Honor of Slaves. Many slaves were buried in the Salem Street Burying Ground without a proper grave marker to remember them by. The team put up a commemorative marker and held a memorial service for the forgotten slaves, during which poems were read to commemorate the slaves.

These three caring students wanted to make an impact on the homeless community by providing them with care packages. After careful brainstorming, this group compiled a list of goods that may be essential to the happiness and comfort of someone who might not have a home. Anayah, Keziah, and Ann created a flyer listing different items people could donate to their cause. These items included: shaving cream, blankets, socks, gloves, hats, etc. The flyer gave a time period of when donations could be made and where people could bring their donations. Once all of the donations were compiled, students created care packages to be brought to a local homeless shelter.

Goals Against Cancer was a fundraiser started by Tenzin Ganchentsang, Jacob Randazzo, and John Falco. The purpose of this was to have businesses from around the Greater Boston Area either ‘pledge’ or make a donation that we collected. Each goal scored by the boys’ lacrosse team during the month of March generated $1.00. They donated the funds they generated to The Cam Neely Foundation which provides care for cancer patients.

For our CCSR project, we sent care packages to Veterans and deployed soldiers. We chose this idea for our CSSR project because we all currently have family deployed in the army and have family members who are veterans. We loved making these care packages to send them a little piece of home to them. The packages included hygiene products, gym items, and comfort products. We fundraised by passing around dum-dum lollipops around hallways and at lunch. They were one dollar for a bundle of three lollipops. We thank you for your help for a good cause!

Our project is a way to spread self positivity throughout Medford High School. We had the students write one thing they like about themselves on an index card. The index cards were different colors so we arranged them to spell out the message, “Put Yourself First.” From afar the students and visitors of MHS saw the positive message, but up close they saw the positivity in action from the student’s responses. This caused people to think about their opinions on themselves and how they can improve on their self positivity, hopefully starting a path or conversation of self admiration for students.

Every year, on May 18, Haitian flag day brings out pride and joy, not only throughout the Haitian Community, but everywhere. In order to celebrate their diversity and inform on the significance of this day, Medford High students organize an educational assembly, portraying aspects of the Haitian culture. The celebration is not limited to Medford High School but extends throughout the entire district. The High School students attend the Middle and Elementary schools, interacting and teaching other students the inspiring aspects of their culture. To conclude the festivities, the students host a party sharing food and music reflecting Haitian culture and heritage.

A group of CCSR members worked together to craft creative holiday cards to bring cheer to US veterans. The students designed cards and then wrote thoughtful messages to show gratitude to veterans during the holiday season. These cards were delivered to the Medford Veterans Services and will be distributed to veterans through this organization.

A group of CCSR students wanted to spread helpful information about the harmful use of plastics in our society. They researched the harmful effects of plastic on the environment and also how to reduce use of single-use plastics. They created an informational poster for the school community. They hung the poster in the library for all to read and learn from.

A group of third grade CCSR members at the Roberts wanted to raise awareness about bike safety in Medford. They also wanted to raise money to help with the relief efforts in rebuilding the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian this past September. They combined these ideas to create the “Tour de Roberts.” The boys created a flyer and several posters to spread the word throughout the community about this event. They made a special announcement on the loudspeaker to invite the school to come and participate in the tour. The Medford Police Department stopped by to discuss bike safety. JRA Cycles bike shop (Salem St.) supported the event by providing a technician to check bikes and helmets and also provided an awesome raffle prize. This event was held on Veteran’s Day at the Roberts School. The students created an obstacle course as well as sold raffles at the event. It was a great success! Not only did everyone have fun practicing bike safety, but the students raised $132 for the Bahamas.

A group of CCSR members were concerned about the increase in fires this year in the Amazon Rainforest. They researched facts about the rainforest and decided to hold a fundraiser to raise money for new trees to be planted. The boys partnered with the PTO at set up a table at Movie Night. They sold coloring sheets with various rainforest animals on them. People purchased a sheet, colored it and then hung it up on a large poster. The students raised $130 for the Amazon.

A group of RES CCSR members wanted to help the homeless and less fortunate in our community. They decided to team up with Boston-based Cradles to Crayons to support families with small children. They held a baby drive in which they collected many helpful supplies for families in need. Diapers, baby wipes, clothes, blankets, toys, and books were donated by the Roberts community.

A group of CCSR members partnered with Operation Gratitude to collect “unwanted” or “extra” Halloween candy. Operation Gratitude creates care packages to US soldiers serving overseas. They include candy in every package. The students created a flyer and posters to help spread the word about their project. The response to the candy collection was overwhelming. Several hundred pounds of candy was collected. Two local dentists received the candy and shipped it to Operation Gratitude.

For Haley O’Rourke and Lily Loren’s project, they collected donation items to bring to an organization called Pine Street Inn, located in Boston. At Pine Street Inn there are several different lists of things you can collect and donate posted on their website, and each list is designated to a certain type of package that the donated items will be a part of. The two main types of ‘kits’ assembled with the donations are “Welcome Home Kits” and Toiletry Kits. Welcome Home Kits include daily items that are hard for Pine Street Inn guests to acquire on their own as they’re settling into a permanent home for the first time in a while. Some of the things that are put into these baskets are sheets and blanket sets for full and twin-sized beds, towels and toiletries, kitchen items such as plates, silverware, paper towels, and sponges, reusable bags, a $50 gift card for Stop n’ Shop (or other grocery stores) or Target, as well as many other things. The Toiletry Kits include all of the necessary items you need to maintain good day-to-day hygiene, as well as other necessities such as toilet paper, cleaning supplies, multicolored Band-Aids, unscented lotions and soaps, and other simple items you may find in your bathroom. They collected donation items to assemble many of both types of kits. https://www.pinestreetinn.org/ 

Our project for the 2019-2020 school year is about decreasing Medford’s ecological footprint. Many local cafes and restaurants use plastic straws and don’t realize what it is costing the environment. Our goal was to get Medford to start using paper straws (or at least move away from plastic straws) because paper straws do not have any negative effects on our town or on the Earth. We worked with the local government and local businesses to move towards a more sustainable future.

Our project donated to local shelters, such as homeless shelters and women’s shelters. We wanted to create a way that students can easily donate to these shelters. To do so, we placed a box in the main office where students can place donations. We wanted to give to different shelters around us, so every couple months or so we chose different shelters that can be donated to. By doing this we wanted to make an easier way to donate and advertise for different shelters around us that you can donate and volunteer to. Additionally, we wanted to volunteer at the shelters to do more than just donate.

The Medford Talks project is all about the education of students beyond the classroom. Medford Talks is a series of lectures from students, teachers, and local professors on specific topics. The hope and goal of our project was to have students attend lectures that would further their knowledge on a subject that may interest them, and to have students, teachers, and professors speak about topics they are passionate about. We provided free lectures for all students and staff of the MHS so that they can further their knowledge and understanding of the world around them beyond just the classroom.

As CCSR members, our goal is to make the world a better place. As of right now, many people are hurting the environment. We made a PSA about the environment and how to help our earth survive. As the future generation, we want to live in environmental conditions that are better than they are right now, not worse. We want to minimize the use of plastic water bottles in our school by having the students of Medford High use reusable water bottles since plastic can hurt our environment. As a school that is very close with its environment because of the Fells, we should be doing more to help our environment. This PSA was both helpful to others and entertaining.Our CCSR project was focused on the inclusion of students in Medford High School with disabilities. Inclusion deals with joining students with disabilities and simply talking and getting to know them better from both an academic and personal viewpoint. During these class periods, we went to their classroom, came up with activity plans, and used those activity plans to get to know our new friends better. We gained an understanding of those around us, and by doing this project, we hope people will recognize that these students are just as nice, funny, and smart as your friends. We hope everyone will be able to greet these students on a first name basis, and not have fear of what they might say in return, because even a simple “hello” can go a long way! Our CCSR project was focused on the inclusion of students in Medford High School with disabilities. Inclusion deals with joining students with disabilities and simply talking and getting to know them better from both an academic and personal viewpoint. During these class periods, we went to their classroom, came up with activity plans, and used those activity plans to get to know our new friends better. We gained an understanding of those around us, and by doing this project, we hope people will recognize that these students are just as nice, funny, and smart as your friends. We hope everyone will be able to greet these students on a first name basis, and not have fear of what they might say in return, because even a simple “hello” can go a long way!

This summer, we had the pleasure of working with the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Allie Fiske and Mike Nestor. They made and donated beautiful benches to us. We painted a female empowerment bench, a LGBTQ+ bench, a diversity bench, and lastly a sports bench. We think that these themes help make our community what it is. After the benches were painted, we moved them to Dugger Park, had a ribbon cutting ceremony, and we will hopefully broadcast it for the community and towns surrounding Medford. We are excited to introduce the new benches of Dugger Park to the community! Our CCSR project was focused on the inclusion of students in Medford High School with disabilities. Inclusion deals with joining students with disabilities and simply talking and getting to know them better from both an academic and personal viewpoint. During these class periods, we went to their classroom, came up with activity plans, and used those activity plans to get to know our new friends better. We gained an understanding of those around us, and by doing this project, we hope people will recognize that these students are just as nice, funny, and smart as your friends. We hope everyone will be able to greet these students on a first name basis, and not have fear of what they might say in return, because even a simple “hello” can go a long way!

DECA, CCSR, and Four Diamonds from Penn State Health, have collaborated to create a community activity that helped fundraise to fight against childhood cancer. We created an event that the community could participate in, with games and fun activities with the end goal of raising money to help those in need.

This tournament was for everyone that would like to participate. Derek Marino was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on September 9th. He recently just started chemo and the doctors are leaning towards Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Derek is an 8th grade at the McGlynn Middle School. This past summer Derek played for the U12 Medford District team. All of the money raised during the tournament went directly to help Derek with his recovery. For the tournament there were four games going on at the same time, and I created a bracket due to how many teams were participating in the tournament.

The Bahamas were devastated by Hurricane Dorian and they need our help. We sold snacks after school to raise money for the Bahamas in order for them to recover as fast as possible. The snack bar was in the main lobby right after school so students leaving for the day could buy a snack and support the Bahamas.

“Letters of Comfort” is a project by Leticya Souza and Brianna Leccese. We hand wrote letters to parents who have children in the hospital. Our goal is to reassure them that everything will be okay and to wish them the best of luck for whatever they are going through, providing comfort for stressed parents is our objective!

Nursing through Music is a project aimed to bring a greater variety of entertainment and activities to members of the Medford Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. Three students from Medford High School, Erin Tan, Christina Zheng, and Katharine Schmidt, made visits to the nursing center once a month to give both solo and trio performances of classical music. Listening to music is proven to reduce stress and contribute to psychological well-being, and provide many other benefits, which is the end goal of this project. The group includes a cellist, pianist, and violinist, which is a standard trio, making a wide range of repertoire available. Each of the group members also has previous experience in classical music, and played solos as well as trios to give the maximum variety to their performances. This project allows student musicians to build community and bring music to members of the Medford Rehabilitation & Nursing Center while also gaining valuable experience in performing music in front of an audience.

For our project, we ran a volleyball game for students grades 6-8 from the Andrews Middle School and the McGlynn Middle School. Students were on a team with their teachers and played against the opposite school. It was entertaining to watch and made a great memory for 8th graders leaving middle. This was also a great practice for any students hoping to make the volleyball team in high school. Overall, this was a fun and memorable night for both students and teachers. All proceeds went to Prevent Child Abuse America, an inspiring organization in need of more donations.

The purpose of this project was stop the abuse of puppies. For this project we made posters and asked people not to buy puppies from pet stores. Instead, people should get dogs from a licenced breeders or get a rescue dog from a shelter.

The purpose of this project was to give ornaments to senior citizens in Medford for the holidays. We decorated ornaments and sold them at the Brooks school to raise money to buy more ornaments. We brought our decorated ornaments to the Medford senior center and everyone loved them.

The purpose of this project was to purchase things that were needed by families in a homeless shelter in Medford. We had a toiletry drive at school and collected toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and shaving things. We brought them to Medford Family Life.

The purpose of this project was to create a box with things that contains things that the group Cradles to Crayons needs. We put boxes in the main office where people can donate the items. When the boxes were full We took the items to Cradles to Crayons.

The purpose of this project was to provide trash covers to prevent trash from blowing out so humans and animals won’t get sick or hurt by the litter. Lacey and Talia raised money and worked with Ms Gomez through the CCSR to make signs and purchase lids for the trash cans! They contributed towards making Medford a cleaner and safer place to live.

The purpose of this project was to reduce injuries and deaths due to car crashes in Medford. They can also help on streets where there is no crossing guard. We put bins of hand held flags for pedestrians to hold while crossing the street.

Cookies for Cancer was a project started by Willa and Sophia. We are trying to help people with FSHD and Cancer. We sold cookies and baked treats. You got to choose your price and that means that they would usually pay more. We sent the money that we made to people with FSHD and people with cancer.

The purpose of this project was to purchase non perishable food for a local food pantry. We held a bake sale after school to raise money. We used the money to buy canned foods and donated them to a local food pantry.

The purpose of this project was to raise money for Angell Memorial Hospital because we love animals. We participated in a bake sale to raise the money. We bought $50 worth of supplies to donate to Angell Memorial Hospital and brought them to the hospital.

This is the second year that students have participated in this project. The goal of the project was to raise awareness about students with allergies and encourage families to offer allergen free choices during Halloween time. The students created a flyer to educate others about the cause. The flyer included information about alternatives to candy and candy that is allergen free. They sent the flyer out to the Columbus Community.

Philip Cantanzo, Gloria Babish, Nathan Falke, and Evelyn Willwerth decided to raise money for the American Red Cross because they were concerned about people affected by Hurricane Dorian. Philip Cantanzano’s family donated gift cards to be raffled at the event. The group raised $99 selling raffle tickets at the Giving Thanks Cultural Event. All proceeds were donated to the American Red Cross.

Jasmine Penaloza-Zavaleta, Nathaly Alas, and Abigail Parlera decided they wanted to make crafts with the community. The group decided to set up a craft table at the Columbus’ Giving Thanks Festival which celebrates diversity. They chose to make Dream Catchers to celebrate Native American Culture.

Eloise Johnson, Amalia Weyant, Naomi, and Nicholas Nascimento decided that they wanted to help their local library by donating books. The group contacted the Friends of Medford Library to see what items they would take. The group created a flyer for a book drive, collected books. At the end, they counted and packaged 487 books, 54 CDs, 7 coloring books, 1 puzzle and 10 DVDs.

Carlos Rolon is a 6-year-old boy from Worcester, waiting for a heart transplant. He asked people to send him Christmas cards as he spends another holiday in the hospital. He was born with an unbalanced atrioventricular canal defect – an abnormality of one of the four chambers of his heart. By the age of two, he had had four heart surgeries. The McGlynn CCSR made Christmas cards for Carlos hoping to cheer him up this holiday season.

The purpose of this project was to help people change their actions and that will reduce global warming. Because wasted energy like gas emissions and electricity, we made posters to put around the school reminding people to use less energy by riding their bike, turning off lights, etc.

CCSR, the Builders Club, and Student Council co-hosted a project to create letters to send to Veterans. These personal letters were included in the packages e sent by Teamsters Local 25 & Teamsters Joint Council 10 NE to Veterans. We discussed how to write an appropriate letter to veterans and what to include and what not to include. Brady and Bridgette went on the McGlynn morning show to motivate students to write these letters during WIN block or their double blocks.

Toys for Tots is a program that was founded in 1947 by reservist Major Bill Hendricks and it is now run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Toys for Tots distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas. We wanted to be a drop-off location this year and many years before because we think that every child should get a gift for Christmas. Ms. Fee and Ms. Olsen helped us this year and we want to give them a big thanks, especially Ms. Fee since she has had us be a drop-off location for many years. From November 12th to December 4th, we have collected and donated gifts this year to the children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas so they could have gifts. We are very thankful to those who donated. Thank you!

These 2nd-graders are big admirers of our men and women in uniform, and wanted to do something to show their appreciation for soldiers and veterans. They decided to do projects through Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit that CCSR has done projects for in the past, that sends care packages to soldiers and veterans. Being the Fall Session, it was the perfect time to make holiday cards to send to soldiers overseas who couldn’t be home for the holidays! They spent some time generating ideas and then creating their cards, which we sent to Operation Gratitude for inclusion in their signature care packages. It was also the perfect time of year to collect leftover Halloween candy for the care packages as well. The students made posters asking their classmates to donate any leftover Halloween candy and hung them up around the school. Many of the group members also brought in some of their own leftover candy, and we shipped all of it off to Operation Gratitude. The group was very happy that they got to do something nice for their role models in the armed forces. They even received a thoughtful thank-you letter from Operation Gratitude for their generous donations! (In the photo on the right.)

Inspired by the pet toy project from the Fall Session, these 3rd-and 1st-graders decided they wanted to put their do-it-yourself skills to use and craft even more homemade toys for shelter animals. They decided on a toy called a snuffle mat, made with anti-fatigue rubber mats and scraps of fleece. The fleece strips get tied into the holes of the rubber mat, and then owners can hide dog treats in the fleece strips for their dogs to dig around and find! Over the course of the next few weeks, they made 3 large snuffle mats, along with some construction paper fans for kittens and cardboard tube treat dispensers for cats.

Our project was a Spikeball tournament Against Child Abuse! Spikeball is a 2 vs 2 game where the objective is to spike the ball into a small trampoline so it can ricochet to the enemy. Players had three hits to coordinate and hit the ball off of the trampoline. If your team or the enemy’s team misses the ball, you or the opposing team gets a point. This sport has a striking resemblance to volleyball, but unlike volleyball this sport has no boundaries adding an extra layer of challenge and fun. All proceeds went to help the fight against child abuse. There was a prize for the most donated and another prize for the winners.

These students from all different grade levels decided to create pet beds for animals of all shapes and sizes. Because pet beds from a store can be so expensive, this group decided to make them from scratch to give to those who may not be able to afford it. Using blanket fabric, these students measured out and cut the fabric so two layers could be tied together. Students worked together to make almost 16 beds for all different kinds of animals! Students also crafted and posted posters around the school to promote their good cause and let students, faculty, and family know of how they could take advantage of this opportunity for their favorite animal at home.

“The No One Fights Alone Campaign” is dedicated to raising awareness and money for cancer research. The inspiration behind this project is that everyone around us may be affected by cancer in some way and it is important to remember that our community is always here for each other. To show support for this project and the CCSR, purple bracelets were sold with “no one fights alone” written on them (all proceeds were donated to Dana Farber Cancer Institute). In addition, a Cancer Awareness Week was held later in the year. This was a time that students were encouraged to wear the ribbon color of a type of cancer that is recognized that day. The goal of this project is to remind our community that no one fights alone!

As we become adults, our connections we make with people become critical to achieving our goals. Technology can sometimes be a barrier to networking and making connections essential to propelling your career. Every other half day of the month (Wednesday), we invited a panel of professionals from various fields to speak about how to use connections to achieve our goals and become better networkers.

During the week of November 18-22 we hosted a food Pantries Fundraises for the St. Francis Food Pantry. First we started with a Project Proposal and we discussed why are we doing this Food Pantries. The reason why we did this fundraiser is because we wanted to help the help the hunger. We raised over 300 cans to donate.

These resourceful 3rd-5th grade students wanted to do something to help animals in shelters, and together we came up with the idea to make some homemade pet toys to donate! We contacted the Volunteer Coordinator at Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, who we’ve worked with in past years, for ideas. She sent us several sets of instructions for homemade pet toys using objects you can find around the house. The students brought the materials in, and spent the next several weeks making cat and dog toys from materials like tennis balls, socks, plastic bottles, and fabric strips.

Each year before Thanksgiving, the McGlynn Elementary School pairs with the Medford Family Network to host a food drive to supply the local food pantry and Medford families in need with food.  These students wanted to help this huge effort. They made posters, talked in classrooms, collected donations and sorted donations by type. They even came an extra day to help put the donations into reusable shopping bags so the food could be easily given away.  With their efforts and the efforts of the school and staff, more than 1400 items were collected! Wow!

I’m a sophomore at MHS and I recently joined the CCSR. When I was at the McGlynn elementary school in the fourth grade a classmate and friend of mine lost his life due to cancer. A tree was planted in his memory but unfortunately it never bloomed. I raised money to replace this tree and planted flowers in his memory. I purchased another tree, planted it in Medford, and dedicated it to everyone who has lost a loved one to cancer.

For our CCSR Project, we want to close the gap between the young and the elderly. This project has a close connection to us because Theodora, on the left, works and volunteers at a nursing home. Vicki, on the right, volunteers with children of special needs, and Rachell, in the middle, in her free time volunteers as well. In order to do so, we created crafts for the children to make and then the three of us delivered them to the elderly. We know that they deeply appreciated the crafts and cards, especially during the holiday season and cherished them. We also sold the crafts/cards to enrich the community. A simple gift with a little care and love cago a long way.

This group created their own Medford themed, breast cancer bracelets to raise awareness for this cause. They sold them for a dollar each at multiple events including middle school and high school basketball games to raise money for breast cancer research. Many people struggle to fight this disease and we organized this event to support them as we all know many people in our lives fighting everyday.

This group raised money to support animal shelters and their adorable animals. Our inspiration are the animals sitting, and waiting in kennels for a loving and caring home. These animals would love to have a life-long companion to keep them safe, and to love them with all of their hearts. We are spreading awareness of this cause, because we believe that we can make a difference in these animals’ lives. While spreading awareness and trying to find homes for them, we are also trying to support animal shelters with what their animals need. We are trying to get donations and supplies from local pet stores that want to support these animal shelters as well. We are hoping to have a fundraiser with dog treats and toys to raise money for the North East Animal Shelter.

These second grade girls tackled a two-fold project.  They first decorated posters and a collection bin to collect donated items for the North East Animal Shelter.  They let members of our McGlynn School community know that the donations could be brought to the school and that they would reach the non profit animal shelter. Needed supplies such as old towels or blankets, old newspaper and pet food has been rolling in! Secondly, the girls researched available pets at the shelter.  They then wrote an ad, describing a pet and giving pertinent information about that pet. “This kitty loves to run and cuddle!” “Smokey the dog is lonely and wants a home!” The ads were combined into a booklet and distributed to all members of the McGlynn Elementary School. Hopefully, all of this free advertising will help an animal at a shelter find a loving home!

These two musically-inclined 2nd-graders decided they wanted to put their talents to use in order to do something in line with the school’s Respect Month, part of the C.A.R.E.S. values system. So, they re-wrote the lyrics of Anna Kendrick’s popular “Cups” song to be about respect and kindness. They designed a Google Slides presentation of their new lyrics for fellow students to sing along with, and they also wrote a short skit and choreographed a music video for the song!

Animal shelters are always in need of extra supplies, and these students wanted to get involved! People who work at animal shelters not only need to keep the facility clean and organized, but need to ensure the animals are taken care of, loved, and prepared for adoption. These students created a flyer to let the McGlynn community know how they can contribute to their cause. The flyer listed multiple animal shelters who need our help within the Medford area. Students suggested donations of blankets, dog food, old pet beds, toys, etc. to help support the success of, not only the animal shelters, but the success of animals being adopted by a loving owner!

CCSR project Apple Of My eyes pies has the goal of putting a smile on the faces of people going through hardships. This project included juniors Nouha Elyazidi and Sarah Carroll baking pies and donating them to a local shelter three times a year. Pies were donated during Thanksgiving, the Holidays, and Easter times. The goal of this project is to provide people who are going through a rough time in their life a sweet surprise and hopefully put a smile on their faces!

For our project, we would like to bring awareness to all the good that rescues do for their animals. We don’t want to bash pet stores for their wrong actions, but rather talk about the better alternative to supporting these chain pet stores, which is adopting. When you adopt an animal, you are not only saving that one, but also buying other animals food or getting them into the rescue in the first place. Last year, we made a video of us donating toys to The Animal Rescue League of Boston. This year we continued donating and held a fundraiser for anyone that wants to donate dog treats and/or toys. We brought these toys along to the rescue. We also wanted to focus on making it more accessible for anyone interested in adopting. We offered phone numbers got people in touch with the rescue. Not only were there dogs, but cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, along with many other small animals. Our goal was to try to bring some positivity to these animals lives, even if it is one animal at a time.

Momeena Zayma, Prabidhi Rana, Dorotea Belotte, and David Mei’s mission was to create a space where everyone is welcomed and where our diversity is celebrated. The group hosted a festival in the city of Medford that featured multiple cultural performances and food vendors, local organizations, and interactive activities.

For our project, we recruited high-school bound female athletes to play in the Medford High School Girls’ Soccer Program. We attended U-14 soccer practices and shared our positive experiences as parts of the program. We also provided helpful information in terms of joining the program and succeeding in it. We feel we had a positive impact on the girls and we gave them insight into the program that we wish we had when we were their age. Hopefully, our efforts will increase the participation in sports among girls at Medford High.

For our project, we organized a bake sale. We are raised money for hurricane relief in the Bahamas, as Hurricane Dorian impacted many lives and left many people without food, shelter, or access to freshwater.We contacted the Culinary Shop in the Vocational School and requested their assistance in the making of the desserts we will sell in this project. The food we made was simple baked goods that we could make in large amounts. The food was Caribbean-themed, representing the country and region we were raising money for.

I am a junior at Medford High School and a proud member of the CCSR! For my project I hosted a supplies drive for clothing and basic household items like bath towels, books, mugs, bras, and more that are much needed items for Rosie’s Place, a women's shelter located in Boston. They are an amazing organization started in 1974 which I am coming to know better through volunteering with them! Everyday, their mission is to provide a safe and supportive environment to help homeless women and families regain their confidence in order to find security and stability in the new chapters of their lives that lie ahead. The homeless community is something that I am very passionate in advocating for, and this project is a small step to provide help for a much deserved organization!

After the success of an electric car charger being installed in Medford last year, we took this year to complete all the bells and whistles left in our project, like getting a plaque to acknowledge our sponsors and thank National Grid. Besides this we also attended the National Grid Energy Summit, a massive honor provided to us by National Grid.

We are very fortunate to live among such a great river next to our beautiful town of Medford. However, it is easy to see that it is very polluted. Shouldn’t the beauty of Medford be reflected upon the cleanliness of the river? That is why our group has cleaned it along with the surrounding area and parks in order to enrich the possible enjoyment for everyone visiting. We all were very excited to assist in something that was long overdue for a town that began with ship building.

For my project, I organized the World Cafe. The World Cafe took place in late February around the 28th to 29th. This event was for community members, educators, highschool students, parents, and anyone else who was willing to participate. At this workshop there were tables set up, each with a student administrator and a group of community members. The student administrators each had a list of questions revolving around diversity and inclusion within the city of Medford as well as what these terms mean to them. Their answers were recorded and used to make positive changes in Medford. There was food provided, and this event served as a chance to integrate generation and people with different perspectives to help each community member understand the other’s view point.

A couple of years ago former CCSR members Megan and Sandra established Tech Time. This year we will carry on the legacy of this successful project. Every half-day once a month we visited a senior center. At the senior center, we taught the elderly how to use their electronic devices, instructing them on simple things such as how to take a picture or sending an email.

Ricky and I recently started cross-country, and when we had our first cross-country meet, we realized that the park we were running in was very messy, with litter everywhere and it was just not a good place to run. When we joined CCSR, we found that it was the perfect opportunity to clean up the place we run in. After I found out that my friend Capland was looking for a project to work on, I invited him to work with us. We think that this project will really help the park become more enjoyable, and hopefully we can inspire more people to help clean parks as well.

Our group set up a book donation box outside Medford High School, similar to the ones that used to be set up outside the Andrews. Our goal is for books that have been donated by Medford residents to be given a new home (i.e public or school library) depending on the maturity level of the book. For example, if a student no longer needs a book that was required for school, he or she could put it in the donation box. The next time that my group sorts through the books in the box, we would donate it to the appropriate library in Medford so that others in lower grades who need it may enjoy it as well.

August Bengtson did a drive for cleaning supplies, blankets, and toys for a local animal rescue, based in Medford, called Kitty Connection. He also baked some healthy dog and cat treats for these adorable animals in need. Kitty Connection not only saves cats, as the name suggests, but also dogs. They are a non-profit and all-volunteer organization. Many people only think of food when it comes to donating to a rescue. In fact, most shelters need much more than just food, but cleaning supplies, blankets, toys, and much more. In the future, the drive will most likely be held over a week or so in order to collect an abundance of supplies to assist these wonderful volunteers!

We hoped to be an outlet to the homeless by providing them with basic necessities that they cannot afford on their own. In order to help the homeless we made care packages that contained most items that we take for granted in our lives. We hosted a bake sale with cookies that were handmade by us to gain the money to buy the items. We sold hot chocolate along side the cookies. Once we had a sufficient amount of money we got all the items the homeless required. By then we had already been in contact with a homeless shelter that sought out donations. We wanted to make Medford’s Homeless people’s situation feel more comfortable and welcome.

Together, the Columbus CCSR leaders all decided that they wanted to help the environment by making sure all the classrooms at Columbus Elementary had a recycling bin. They also educated students about the importance of recycling.

Stefan Langshur’s CCSR Project was entering the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. He created a podcast about defining personal success, working toward it, and eventually achieving an end goal. His aim with this project was to help others define a goal for themselves and learn to work toward that goal every day.

Emma McGlynn created a video titled “A Veteran’s Perspective.” She interviewed five veterans from within the Medford community, each from a different branch of the military. Each veteran told their personal story about their experience in the United States Military, returning home, what they did after serving, and the overall impact of their experience on themselves and the community. Emma then complied their stories into a video to share with the community that honors local veterans and shares their experiences of serving.

Isabella Duque Munoz, Rayssa Braga, And Leticia Madeira wanted people to write kind, encouraging, and motivational letters to their loved ones. People sent the group an email stating who they wanted to send the letter to, who it was being sent by (it could be anonymous), the address, and what they wanted to write. The group revised them and mailed them. They believe that this has brought smiles to peoples’ faces and helped them throughout these hard times. Being at home most of the time and barely socializing can take a toll on us, as we are social creatures. When you send someone an actual letter it gives a way bigger effect than a text or email. The group believes that the impact this has had on our city has been amazing and something worth thinking about.

For Sam Cluggish’s Act of Kindness, he worked with Mr. Skorker, Chenine Peloquin, and the administration of Medford High School to help eligible students at Medford High School register to vote for the November 3rd election. Using some aspects of the program When We All Vote, he provided students with the resources necessary to register themselves to vote using Massachusetts’s online voter registration system. The ability to vote is very important to the community because it allows the average citizen to engage in public discourse and change the community directly. Being able to vote during the election was especially important due to the turning point the election created and the issues being decided. Sam was very happy he was able to help the community in this way and he looks forward to future opportunities to benefit the community.

Naomie Pierre, Baban Gill, Oprah Nkera, and Eleanor Nkera’s project is called Seeds to Feed. The group planted a harvest to donate to the Mystic community market. With these vegetables they wanted to help by planting a variety of different fruits and vegetables, so people have easy access to food. This pandemic left many families to worry about their next meals. Therefore, the group wanted to give them our help, and support during these tough times. This all happened at the garden in MHS, which is run by Mrs. Retta Smith.

August Bengtson worked with Kitty Connection by drawing donors' pets. When someone donates a certain amount of money to a Kitty Connection, they will have their pet drawn by August. This fundraiser will hopefully raise money and awareness for local animal rescue organizations. In addition to this fundraiser, August also used his artistic abilities to try and help homeless shelter dogs get adopted. He found dogs in need of loving homes via Instagram and drew portraits of these dogs. Along with the portraits, he provided the dog’s bio from the shelter and the shelter’s address and contact information. The goal of this was to help share homeless dogs with the hope of them getting adopted.

In order to entertain the community during the pandemic, Aniya Crump had created an Instagram called t_f_n_p_ (which stood for The Friendly Neighbor Project) to stream and post videos that showcased various activities that children could watch and recreate at home. The streams were held on Wednesdays and Saturdays for various amounts of time. She posted small DIY crafts and tips and tricks videos and posts. She streamed DIY activities on wednesdays and more chill streams on Saturdays. The goal of this project was to entertain and connect people from across the community and to enjoy time during quarantine.

Sisters Kate and Abbie Joslin wanted to create a scavenger hunt for citizens of Medford to teach people about their community and what it had to offer. They decided to compile a list of many different objects and places around town that symbolized Medford. In order to maintain social distancing, Kate and Abbie had participants take photos of the things they found and the places they visited. All of these pictures were uploaded to a google doc that everyone had access to. This way everyone involved could see all the different objects people found. This scavenger hunt was a great way to bring the community together. The goal of this scavenger hunt was to create an opportunity for people to go outside and do something fun in their community. In addition to this, the scavenger hunt taught people about Medford and what they could find throughout our very special city.

For Theodora Odvil, Victoria Miller, Sammy Mercauto and Megan Furtado’s CCSR Project, the group wanted to close the gap between the young and elderly once again. The project has a close connection to the group because Theodora works and volunteers with the elderly at a nursing home. Vicki volunteers with children with special needs, and Sammy and Megan volunteer with their younger cousins. The group had children create cards for a holiday and then deliver/mailed the cards to the elderly.

For Matteo D’Aveta and Josh Klein’s CCSR project this year, they decided to hold a book drive for the Medford area. They advertised the book drive using virtual flyers. They set up a collection area where people could leave their unwanted books. After they collected a sufficient amount of books, they sorted through them to pick out all the books in good condition and divided them based on whether they were written for adults or for children. Once they had done this, they gave the books to local services/schools where the books could be put to good use.

For Sam Cluggish’s service project for the community, he started a monthly podcast for the CCSR that chronicled the happenings of the CCSR over the month. He also interviewed members of different CCSR projects and interviewed members of the community who either helped out with said projects or are working on their own to help serve the community. Each podcast had a monthly theme which Sam discussed by sharing his own thoughts on the theme as well as through the interviews. Sam did this podcast mainly by himself, without the direct sponsorship of any organization. However, he does want to thank BandLab and Spreaker for making free-to-use recording programs so he could record and edit the podcasts. Sam hopes that the podcast will continue after he graduates from high school and that it will hopefully grow to include more than just one person running the show.

Student leaders Amine Nazih, Liza Lopes, and Zayn Yousuf participated at a Martin Luther King talk panel as CCSR panelists. They spoke about Dr. King's legacy, current issues, and changes they would like to see in their community. The students chose this project because Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy was something important to them, and they wanted to do a project related to the current BLM movement. The MLK panel was streamed live on Facebook on January 18th.

Charlotte and Emma decided to design a gratitude challenge, showing daily ways in which people can demonstrate gratitude. They believe that there is a lot everyone can be thankful for, and this would be a good way to spread gratitude and positivity. Their November Gratitude Calendar was uploaded to the CCSR social media pages, and the challenges were uploaded daily. Participating students had to take a picture of them doing the challenge and then post it on their page and/or send it to CCSR to post on the CCSR social media pages.

Middle School student leaders Delilah Putnam-Bagley, Lucia Cytacki, and Addison Nitchie hosted a Valentines Day Raffle to raise funds for the MSPCA. In total they raised $315 for the MCPCA. The MSPCA is an organization that addresses problems like homelessness, illness, cruelty, and neglect towards animals. The MSPCA continues to rescue, shelter, and protect animals.

Who doesn’t want to receive a goodybag with all the essentials to get you through the last stretch of winter? McGlynn Middle School CCSR members Kaitlyn Alves and Isla McInnis knew that the senior citizens who frequent the Medford Council on Aging would love that. For the month of February they collected items including hot chocolate, tea, mittens, hats, scarves, puzzles, crosswords, and books. Thank you to everyone who donated! Kaitlyn and Isla with the help of siblings, parents and friends were able to pack 100 bags for the senior citizens. They will be distributed Friday March 5th. This project was funded by grants by the Cummings Foundation and the Krystle Campbell Community Betterment Project.

The Hope Chest is a clothing drive that provides clothing, hats, gloves, jackets, winter gear, and shoes to people in need. Donations will be taken in the donation box in the front lobby on February 26th. If you think the Hope Chest could help you, or someone you know, there are many easy ways to ask for support. Ask a trusted teacher, counselor, or coach at MHS about how to get help from the Hope Chest. MHS Hope Chest is dedicated to the Memory and Legacy of Brianna Barnard. 

Leticya Souza, Anna Mercina Stefanou, and Rose Penucci created a recipe page for the Medford Community on a website called Padlet. The page is available for everyone to access though a QR code and link. Anyone can upload images and recipes to share with the community! The goal was to have the people of Medford share their favorite recipes and explore new ones from others.

Sarah Lima, Alyssa Parziale, and Paloma Castillo Navarro have been making masks due to COVID for people who aren’t able to get masks. They have been learning how to make them at home, and are planning on making over 150 masks in total! Once completed, they will be dropping the masks off at local shelters, as well as giving them out to the homeless. They would like to personally thank Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn for her generous donation of all elastic bands to make this project possible.

Sixth grade students, Nathan Quinn, Charlotte Foti, and Abby Charlton have organized a book drive for the CCSR. After collecting books at the McGlynn and the Andrews, they plan on distributed them to the Little Free Libraries around Medford. The drive was held from December 14th to December 22d. The group raised over two hundred dollars!

Naomie, Baban, Cindy, Kaitlyn, and Amy created donation drives at Medford High School. Their goal was to make a difference in the community by getting the old unwanted shoes from students and parents. The shoes that were donated go to the Soles4Souls organization, which focuses on creating a business where they can give children and adults who are struggling a pair of shoes. By keeping these pairs from going to waste the students the group was able to help an organization expand.

This is the official calendar for the December “Good Deed” Challenge!! There are daily challenges this month to demonstrate kindness towards people in our community. Please join us and while doing so, take pictures of yourself doing these activities and post them on social media, tagging @MedfordCCSR. Happy last month of 2020! Let’s end on a positive note!

On Saturday, November 7th, the CCSR collaborated with the Mystic River Watershed Association and the City of Medford in order to host a cleanup along the Mystic River. This event took place from 10 AM to 12 PM. The participants wore masks and remained six feet apart at all times in order to ensure the safety of our community. The participants collected a total of 17 bags of trash along the Mystic River! We want to say thank you to Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn for helping us out, as well as everyone who participated and helped put this event together! We hope to see you there next time!

This project is a continuation of last year’s “Medford Porch Jam.” Colin worked with Mr. Skorker and other members of the community to find talented musicians across Medford. People were asked to record themselves singing and playing to whatever songs they would like to play, and send the videos to Colin who compiled them in a video. Their videos featured guitar, piano, and bass playing, along with singing. The goal of this project was to create a sense of unity and togetherness across Medford through the love of music. Many believe that music is a universal language, and Colin wanted to exhibit that belief through this project.

Students from the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility (CCSR) at Medford High School have added their own unique beauty and whimsy to the jersey barriers surrounding the outdoor cafe at Shanghai Moon restaurant in Haynes Square. Working together on two afternoons, five students painted all seven jersey barriers with flowers and butterflies. The traffic-facing color scheme of black, red, and white echoes the logo of the restaurant, and the inside dining area evokes the warmth and lightness of summer days. The idea for this project originated with CACHE in Medford and the Medford Chamber of Commerce, and the painting sites are being managed by ArtsMedford, a community organization supporting artists and community.

Common Ground is a reversed inclusion classroom that allows high school students to form connections within the Life Skills Classroom, a program that works with Medford High School students with significant disabilities. The goal was to incorporate students in Common Ground within classrooms and activities to feel included within the MHS community. Ava Heinegg, Laurel Baxter, Stefan Langshur, Aidan Barry, and Bendjy Augustine worked alongside Ms. Andre to create an environment in which the students could participate and feel welcome. By working together doing team building activities, they implemented a more inclusive environment that will outlast their time at Medford High School. This was an existing program that the group adapted to remote learning through activities over Zoom.

During the summer of 2021, Zayn Yousuf organized a Cleanup at Haines Square to beautify the Square and also prepare the location for an event. The Cleanup was made possible with the help of the Mayor's Office and the Department of Public Works (DPW). Gloves, vests, and all necessary tools were provided by the DPW at the site. Student volunteers were able to sign up to help at the cleanup and receive community service hours.

The American Sign Language Club is a brand-new club through CCSR that helps kids to learn the background of sign language along with the language itself. It is not offered at the school, which is why it would be such a great opportunity for students to learn without having to worry about grades or tests. Students learned sign language through videos and hopefully in-person speakers if Covid-19 regulations allow. By joining the club, students can learn a new language at their own pace along with others who share some of the same interests. This was created by CCSR student leader Annabelle Bolitho.

A group of CCSR students is collaborating with Susan Altman from the Medford Arts Council to paint the utility box behind Medford City Hall. This past year, they came up with the design for the box. Currently, the group is painting the box with an outer space theme. Through this project, they hope to bring a new style and appreciation of art to Medford. Stay tuned for the final product.

The Medford CCSR website is a website that anyone can access that shows news, updates, projects, and much more information about the CCSR program. Every year the portfolio, showcasing projects from all members, is uploaded to the website. This site is a great tool for members to spread or showcase their work or project. Please check out the website at https://ccsrmedford.org

The Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility (CCSR) and Carroll’s Restaurant collaborated to honor our first responders - fire and police personnel - in remembrance of 9/11 by providing them with coffee and pastry on Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th from 9 AM to 11 AM at Carroll’s Restaurant, 21 Main Street, Medford.

The Micropantry Project, also known as the Oasis Project, is committed to combating food insecurity throughout the Greater Boston area by opening 'micro pantries.' These are the spearhead of a growing national movement of citizen-operated public food cabinets, that has led to just under twenty being opened in Medford (as of now). The Oasis group will continue working to get as many of these built as they can this year. They hope this project will be ongoing, in one form or another, even after they graduate.

This project was a book drive that donated books to the new Medford Public Library. Teachers or students were able to donate any unwanted books they had. Flyers were put around the school to inform people that boxes have been put in offices for students and teachers to donate their books. The boxes were collected at the end of November and the books were brought over to the library to be used for their book sale. Excess books were given to the free little libraries. The reason they decided to do this project was that more than 2 billion books are thrown away each year, and they wanted to help share some books with others.

The Democracy Campaign was a voter registration drive for all students ages 16 and up. Organized by Teagan Mustone, this project encouraged future participation in democracy. The young people of our nation hold the power to influence the legislation that will affect their future. In addition to a registration day in class, the online registration process was posted throughout the school and hard-copy forms in Spanish, Haitian Creole, and other languages were available to students because no one should be denied this right. The CCSR, with a shout-out to the Humanities Department and Mr. Bowen-Flynn, is creating future voters!

This group organized a food drive at the McGlynn Middle School. Last school year, the 8th-grade civics class organized a food drive from May through June. The food drive was very successful! To plan this, an email was sent to Mr. Tucci for permission and to the previous civics teacher, Mr. Tiberi, for his partnership. This project took place from November 29th to December 10th. The food was donated to the Unitarian Universalist Church and the extra food went to micro-pantries all over the city! Thank you!

In collaboration with the EL teachers at Medford High and the help of Medford High students, Khushi Kaur and Sophia Sunwoo created the EL Give Back Program. The EL Give Back Program is a student-led project designed to help new English learning students. Their goal is to help adjust the English learning students to their new school and environment. They created videos that have been translated by Medford High School students into seven different languages. Their videos are in Arabic, Haitian-Creole, Hindi, Portuguese, Mandarin, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Some of the topics they have recorded include graduation requirements, how to get free/reduced lunch, how to get a bus pass, the school dress code, and there will be many more videos to come.

For the Harvest Your Energy Festival, Anamol helped organize the event and acted as an intermediary between the city and CCSR in running the festival. Anamol ran a fundraiser for electronics, which helped raise money for the CCSR. In an effort to reduce waste in the City of Medford, the project contributed towards preserving the environment of the local community.

Mrs. Ververis’s third-grade class and 21 high school students exchanged pen pal letters throughout the 2021-2022 school year. They exchanged letters monthly, regarding their hobbies, classes, and anything else they had in common. The letters were decorated and age-appropriate for the third graders to comprehend. This project helped reinforce the students' writing skills creatively as well as create friendships within the schools!

Every year on May 18th, the students of Medford come together in order to participate in Medford High School's District-wide Haitian Flag Day celebration. It is executed so that every student in the Medford School District can learn about the importance and participate in the celebration of Haitian Flag Day. Many students volunteered and went to other schools in the school district in order to educate younger students on the importance of this day. After going around to the other schools an assembly (split into small sections) was held for the MHS student body, where an informational video about Haitian Flag Day (created by students) was played. The video was followed by performances (dancing and singing), and many guest speakers who educated the students on why we celebrate this holiday. At the end of the day, all were welcome to a small celebration with music and Haitian food! Many were able to celebrate with us, which made the celebration even more special, and memorable.

Common Ground was an inclusive collaboration class between the Diversity and Enrichment class and Mrs. Goldberg’s class which met twice during a six-day week. This project has been active for 3 years which has created ever-lasting friendships between both classes. Common ground took place in Mrs. Goldberg’s classroom (A210), the Life Skills Classroom at Medford High School. All activities were collaboratively planned by students from the Diversity and Enrichment class and Mrs. Goldberg. Students both with and without disabilities participated in hands-on, interactive activities that promote teamwork to help build relationships among peers. Some of the activities included; interactive hello’s, marshmallow towers, slime making, getting-to-know-you Jenga, and painting!

The student leaders worked together to collect donated skateboard parts and then make those parts into skateboards. The group donated these skateboards to those in need. The goal was to have at least 5 skateboards by the end of 2022. The group hopes that those in need could experience one of the most wonderful things—skateboarding!

The CCSR officers worked together to create officer jackets. They discussed what they would like to see on their jackets and organized spreadsheets to send to the printing company. Using all of their ideas, they designed a jacket that incorporated everyone’s input as well as important aspects of the CCSR. After being sent to print, all officers were able to get their new jackets to wear with pride, representing their importance in the CCSR.

CCSR student leaders Michele Beagan, Oprah Nkera, and Eleanor Nkera planned and executed a fundraiser project by handing out "Boo Grams". These "Boo Grams" were pre-ordered by students and teachers and sent to their person of choice. The Boo Grams included candy and other trinkets such as Halloween tattoos, stickers, and rings. This was not only a fundraiser but also meant to bring cheer and bring members of the Mustang community together by celebrating Halloween!

The student leaders organized a Rock Paper Scissor tournament on the Early Release day, December 15, 2021. They wanted to host a fun event that would encourage student engagement and would also bring back a sense of normalcy during a demanding year. The first-place winner, Mary Schmidt, won a $50 Amazon gift card, and the second-place winner, Natalie Galindo, won a $25 Amazon gift card. The student organizers sold tickets for the tournament during the first and second lunches for an entire week leading up to the tournament. They believe the tournament was a great success and plan on organizing other similar events in the future.

Many people can agree that music has helped them in some way throughout their lives. “Music Mentality” focuses on utilizing social media and Youtube to create short videos promoting artists that students may be interested in. Whether the posts may inspire them to create their own music or simply help them through tough times, their group overall hopes to leave a positive impact on students through music.

The 8th Grade Open House is held every year at the Medford High School in order to introduce and familiarize 8th graders to the high school. CCSR officers Lily, Julie, and Zayn created and presented an informational slideshow about the CCSR to the students. The goal of the presentation was to inform the public of what the CCSR does as an organization, as well as encourage them to be future CCSR student leaders, and become more involved in their community.

The Adaptive Soccer Program was an inclusive after-school program held once per week for six weeks by the Medford Family Network. The program was established in order to create a safe environment where students with disabilities could play a sport side by side with other students and learn teamwork skills while making important friendships. Student leaders Laurel, Baban, Anamol, Amine, Edward, and Zayn took this on as their CCSR project and helped coach the kids. They all were extremely happy with the time spent in the program and the results and hope to pass this project down to underclassmen as most of them are graduating this school year.

CCSR student leader Sahib Gill organized a toy drive at Medford High School throughout the winter season. Sahib donated numerous toys to provide for young children who were unable to receive toys during the holiday season. The reason Sahib wanted to start this project was to help the parents who were unable to buy toys for their children. Sahib delivered these toys to Brookside Community Health Center.

The dog toy donation project was centered around helping animal shelters in need by making dog toys through donated pieces of fabric. Due to the current pandemic, many shelters have experienced an overflow of animals and a decrease in the donation of supplies for these animals. Through this project, the animals received handmade dog toys. The goal of this project was to help animals in need and allow shelters to allocate money towards veterinary visits, food, and bedding for the animals without having to worry about entertaining the animals. These toys were dog and cat-friendly, as well as having more than one use for the animals, such as: being used as chew toys, comfort objects, or as a simple accessory to play catch with. We can all help make a difference in the lives of those in need through simple acts.

As the original Pen Project became a very successful project, Racheal, Sherlyn, Naomie, Teagan, and Stanley decided to expand it to the McGlynn, Missituk, Brooks, and Roberts Elementary Schools. They allowed high school students to sign up through Google Forms. Those who volunteered were paired up according to their favorite genres of movies, hobbies, and more. They exchanged letters between the 3rd graders and were proofread for grammar, language, and ensuring that they are age-appropriate.

In their project, Better Bike Racks, Thea Cruz, Clark Barayuga, and Stanley Sunwoo have worked with Ellery Klein and Walk Medford to make cycling within Medford a better experience. The original plan was to install better and safer bike racks for students to bike to school. They also wanted to encourage more people to bike. To do that, they wanted to start with making Medford a safer place to bike, so more people would feel comfortable doing so. By conducting surveys and obtaining help from all around the community, their goal was to promote cycling and biking in Medford, as well as making the city—and its bike racks—safer.

These CCSR Student leaders created a video for the MLK panel. The video mentioned ways in which their project had a call to action, similar to Martin Luther King Jr. This video was showcased during the live MLK panel on January 17, 2022. This event was created by Chelli Keshavan. In the two videos, they reflected on their environmental action to how Martin Luther King was able to fight for justice through his actions and activism.

CCSR students Ava Chasteen, Madeline Morris, Ainsley McInnis, and Emma Ademaj worked on a fundraiser during January and February. Proceeds from the fundraiser went to victims of the Kentucky tornadoes. To fundraise, they had a bake sale every week in January and February. Their goal was to reach 500 dollars. They were very glad that they had this opportunity to help people in this time of need!

Naomie, Baban, Cindy, Kaitlyn, and Amy created donation drives at Medford High School. Their goal was to make a difference in the community by getting the old unwanted shoes from students and parents. The shoes that were donated go to the Soles4Souls organization, which focuses on creating a business where they can give children and adults who are struggling a pair of shoes. By keeping these pairs from going to waste the students the group was able to help an organization expand.

Medford Veterans Recognition is a group of students working to raise awareness of Medford citizens of the past and present who have fought in the military. The group hopes to foster more widespread acknowledgment and support of the stories and heroics of veterans that live and have lived in our own community by publishing biographies of veterans on commemorative signs and plaques around the city.

This group partnered and worked with the senior citizens at the Medford Community Aging Center. There they helped and aided the seniors with tech classes for those who needed assistance with their phone/tablet/computer. This included creating an email, looking up videos, adding contacts, sending text messages, etc. These leaders learned and enjoyed spending and helping others through small tasks.

A group of students in Ms. Nyland's French 4 class, with the support of CCSR, had a Thanksgiving-themed food drive to help support Medford High School families with limited resources to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast. These leaders assembled baskets with Thanksgiving foods, paper goods, and a gift certificate and delivered them to Medford High School Families. As a small group, they were tasked with creating beautiful and inspirational art in a busy corridor where many students walk throughout the day.

CCSR student Rebecca Siegel held a used book sale for Medford educators and school librarians to give back to the Medford Public Schools. Rebecca partnered with the Friends of the Medford Public Library to receive and sort book donations from the community. Books were sold at a very discounted rate to help teachers and librarians fill their shelves. All proceeds were donated to support programming at the new Medford Public Library.

On October 25th, CCSR students Rebecca Siegel, Charlotte Gingo, Liza Lopes, Teagan Mustone, Anderson Prince, and Helena Knightly saw author, activist, and former Georgia State Representative, Stacey Abrams speak as part of her “A Conversation with Stacey Abrams” tour. Students were able to meet Stacey Abrams before the event and take a picture with her. The students were inspired by Abrams’s optimistic outlook on the future of voting rights and advocacy as a voice for political and social change.

This project is working to enact a Polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, ban in the food industry service of the City of Medford. Polystyrene is harmful to our environment and health, negatively impacting wildlife and ecosystems. Ellie, along with others, created a petition with over 1,200 signatures in support of this. She’s spoken in front of City Council twice, once in 2020 and once in 2021, and has received unanimous support to review an ordinance banning Polystyrene in a Committee of the Whole. In February 2022, she plans to present at the Committee of the Whole meeting and move forward with this effort. She hopes to ban polystyrene and move to more reusable, recyclable materials available in the city of Medford. She wants to make a lasting impact on our community and improve the environment by working with local and possibly state governments.

In an effort to increase STEM awareness within under-represented groups in Medford, student leaders hosted 4 after-school science workshops in the McGlynn and Andrews middle schools in the spring, working with faculty and existing science programs. The student-led workshops covered topics in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering and provided students with the chance to conduct their own lab experiments. Aside from being educational, the workshops were also a great way to bond with new students and make connections.

Melanie Alvarez produced a video about Covid-19 and how it affected life as a high school student. In this video, she wanted to capture the reality of Covid-19 and the changes from doing school online to now being in person. Alvarez demonstrated the negative aspects of Covid as well as the positive aspects.

For Jasmine’s project, she worked with Mr. Skorker and Mr. Elsey to create posters for the Medford Chess Club. She used the internet and her friends to gather information about chess to put onto the posters. She made two posters about general information about the Medford Chess Club and general rules for playing chess.

The CCSR held an event in support of Ukraine during these difficult times. The Stand with Ukraine event was held on March 4, 2022, Friday, the image on the left were the nine students, Khushi Kaur, Amine Nazih, Emma Desharnais, Matteo D’Aveta, Jordan Lanakiev, Eamon Costello, Andersen Prince, Zayn Yousuf, Anamol Kaspel. who gave speeches about how they felt about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ten students on the right image volunteered with the concession stand which contained baked goods. All proceeds and donations were given to UNICEF. The students wore yellow and blue, colors of the Ukraine flag, to show their support to the people in Ukraine.

In 2020, 6th graders Ben Tuco, Ryan Mabardi, and Josh Lemotte created their own Medford-themed, breast cancer bracelets to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. Bracelets were sold to the AMS community for $1. They quickly sold out of their bracelets and earned $135 in profits. The group immediately ordered more bracelets, but due to COVID, they were not able to finish the project. Fast forward to 2021, 6th graders Mia LaPorte, Nate Burns, and Maria Clara Araujo continued to sell the bracelets and earned $250. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of these students, CCSR was able to donate $385 to the Ellie Fund, a charity organization that provides assistance to breast cancer patients residing in/or receiving treatment in Massachusetts.

CCSR and The Sewing Club collaborated on this project to donate to the Bread of Life in Malden. The Sewing Club stayed late after school two times to sew 71 toiletry bags. The CCSR worked with the community to collect toiletry donations. Right before Christmas break students from CCSR and Sewing Club stayed late after school to organize the toiletry items and pack the handmade toiletry bags. After packing and donating the bags, they were able to donate extra toiletry items. A special thank you to: Julia Parker, AMS Sewing Club advisor Mea Mustone, School Committee member Vivian Su and the AMS PTO. The First Community United Methodist Church in Medford. The countless teachers, students, administration, and parents CCSR and Sewing Club student members.

The McGlynn Middle School CCSR hosted the 4th annual Mustang Way Assembly for the 6th graders. Middle school and High school students shared their stories about what the Mustang Way means to them. They shared the importance of ACE, the Mustang Way and how it is applied to our academics, athletics, and our everyday lives. We were fortunate to hear from 8th graders Vinny DiMartino, Reza Basnet, and Maria Eduadro de Gois. Among the Medford High School student leaders, 8th grader Amy Radzisewski included a piece on the awareness of mental health to tie in with being kind to everyone. The event was hosted by McGlynn 8th graders James Cluggish and Lina Gomez McDonald. These students were chosen because they exemplify the Mustang Way and hold admirable leadership qualities. The 6th graders were able to hear these stories and descriptors of the Mustang Way. The 6th-grade students were then challenged to go forth and demonstrate the Mustang Way so that one day, they can hold the leadership roles of these students.

A group of students at Brooks Elementary decided they wanted to hold a bake sale for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. St. Jude’s is conquering childhood cancer and life-threatening illnesses while providing support for patients and their families. Students were happy to donate the proceeds from the bake sale to St. Jude’s.

This fifth grade team understands the importance of reducing plastic waste in our world. They have researched the dangers of microplastics and created a slideshow presentation to teach others about this problem. These environmentally conscious students bought water bottles and oil-based pens so students could purchase and create custom-designed water bottles and minimize the number of disposable water bottles being thrown out in our school.

The students organized a Bake Sale so they could donate money to St. Judes Hospital. The students were very passionate about helping sick children. They created a flier to inform the community and hung it around the school. The students baked cupcakes, cookies, brownies, muffins, cake pops, and more! They held their Bake Sale on the playground at Roberts Elementary School and sold lots of goodies!

Students in this group were very passionate about animals! They researched shelters in Boston and found the Animal Rescue League. They decided to create two raffle baskets- one for cats and one for dogs. The groups created a flier, collected raffle money from the community, and also set up a table on the playground. They donated the raffle money to The Animal Rescue League of Boston to help support the animals at the shelter.

Arzel organized a coin drive so that he could donate money to Homeless Veterans. He picked the Boston Rescue Mission because they have a large number of Veterans who seek support at their center. Arzel made a flier for the students and gave each teacher a collection jar. Arzel collected coins for a full week and then visited each classroom to collect their coins. The coins were brought to Coinstar and then the money raised was donated to Boston Rescue Mission. The shelter's mission is to bring food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, and provide life-transforming services to those in need.

This group of students has been working tremendously hard the last few months in spreading information on the importance of recycling. As a group, they collected recyclable materials and created four art installations to display at our “Go Green” event this school year. They raised funds by raffling off local business gift cards, and they were able to donate $150 to the Team Seas global fundraising event in which they were able to assist in their mission of raising $30 million. For every dollar raised, Team Seas will be able to remove one pound of trash from the world’s oceans. The group is donating to another project with ‘Team Trees’ later this year. These students have also created recycling posters to hang around the school to remind students and staff which items are recyclable and where they are to be put.

One of the first missions the Missituk CCSR went to work on was cleaning up the school grounds. The group organized a Fall Clean-Up Day for the Missituk (it was later canceled) but they were able to assist the custodial staff in ensuring the playground areas and the park surrounding our school remained clean. They scheduled daily walks around the property and were able to remove many bags of trash from the property. They had these signs created as well, and the students have really taken a lot of pride in keeping Missituk Elementary clean. The group will be scheduling more clean-up events once the weather is warmer!

Student leaders Audrey Adkins, Ava Dwyer, Nadia Aquil, and Sofia Shanley wanted to educate the community about Veterans Day and thank the veterans in our community. They found a video for teachers to share with their students at the McGlynn Middle School. Students reflected on the importance of Veterans Day and created thank you cards. Students then created cards for our veterans of Medford, which were distributed to the Veterans center at Medford City Hall.

Student leaders Luke DiMartino, Chris Gomez McDonald, Finn Manning, Liam Brady, Isaak Hull, and Dominik Branley created an email account, [email protected], and hung up flyers around the city offering their yard work services. They reached out to neighbors and community members and began to help right away. In the fall, they helped rake leaves and clean yards. In the winter, they helped shovel snow from walkways and clear cars of snow.

Student leaders Thanmaya Aman, Ann Limage, Keziah Diligent, and Amy Wanjiru organized a drive supporting local animal shelters. They were concerned about the number of animals being surrendered as people return to work and realized their lifestyles are not supportive of pet ownership. They supported local animal shelters.

The members of the CCSR were able to show off their projects! Many people came to support their friends and see their accomplishments!