Building Mindfulness for Seniors in Brooklyn

Funded Sep 7, 2024

Thanks to your generosity, my Brooklyn high school seniors have engaged in positive community writing celebrations in College Preparatory English class and creative participation in our weekly advisory classes.

In our first unit of the school year, students constructed a creative short story in response to Octavia Butler's short story entitled "Speech Sounds". Students participated in several days of writing workshop in order to best prepare for the in-class writing celebration. As a result of the support from Donors Choose, all students arrived to class with a surprise snack waiting for them on their desks. When they saw this at the start of the class period, they were very happy and immediately understood that this gesture was an important component of the writers' celebration. The students took their seats, opened up their stories on their laptops and began to enjoy their snacks and creative storytelling.

In advisory class, students have been so appreciative of the snack mix and the LEGO botanical sets. Coming to advisory is a stress release for many of them. Their days can be stressful and feel monotonous sometimes, so coming to advisory where they can work together to build LEGO sunflowers or a dynamic succulent garden is a beautiful thing to witness. Several of the students have even commented that they have wanted these particular LEGO sets, but, since they can be quite expensive, they haven't been able to purchase them. They anticipate advisory class and look forward to jumping back into the weekly LEGO work that brings them both joy and relief.

Thanks again for supporting our public school seniors. These items aid in their daily enjoyment, creativity community-building and focus.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Latimer