MANCHESTER, NH – Long after schools had emptied for Thanksgiving break, Hillside Middle School was still abuzz with activities and programs for its own students and for students across the city, well into the afternoon of Wednesday, November 24. Hillside Middle School for years now has been a model of student-centered programming, student empowerment, team building, community building and more. If you pay close enough attention, you will see it has relentlessly pursued opportunities and collaborations to benefit its students, families and community. With so many inspirational examples to share, let’s enjoy a sampling from the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving!
Equity and excellence, every classroom, every day. This is the school district’s mission statement, and it is Hillside Middle School’s as well. And they walk the walk. Hillside celebrates Spirit Day every Wednesday. Students and staffers are encouraged to wear school apparel on these days, to, well, pump up the school spirit and fun. Providing equity means providing access for all to the same opportunity. Hillside’s incredible PTO found a creative way to provide this access, by funding T-shirts for all students and staffers, this one specially designed by Hillside Assistant Principal Sara Loughlin. What a beautiful design, and it is now hard to find anything else being worn on Spirit Day, and others! Like the famous line from 1989’s Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come,” Hillside is providing the equity and opportunities for all to participate, and the participation is proof all students want to be positively involved in something. Kudos, PTO!
Kaden’s Memory Garden
Beloved Hillside student Kaden Clegg passed away earlier this year. Organized by Hillside’s exemplary teacher, Karen Ricciardi, and driven by her students, Kaden’s peers, together they created a beautiful outdoor space they named, Kaden’s Memory Garden. They created a beautiful service, attended by family, students and staff, where many students spoke lovingly about their good friend, Kaden. The students created stepping stones made of concrete and decorated with craft gems and seashells. They placed these around the rose bush they had planted and the mulch they had placed around the bush. After the students finished their speeches, Hillside Orchestra teacher Steve Organek concluded the ceremony with a very special rendition of “Amazing Grace.” The ceremony was very moving and appropriate, a very important morning for Kaden, his family and Hillside.
Builders Club & Annual Food Drive
The Hillside Builders Club is run by Hillside teachers Marcelle Pethic and Ashley White, and is sponsored by Hooksett Kiwanis. The club’s goal is to support various needs in the community, they aim to be 100 percent student-driven, meaning the adults are supporting and facilitating only. Builders Club started at Hillside 11 years ago with the support from their incredible partner, Hooksett Kiwanis. This club has done many impressive things in the community, led by many very impressive students. This year for the first time they led Hillside’s annual, fall food drive. Over the years this drive has blessed 1000’s of Hillside homes with bountiful turkey food baskets. Builders Club willingly took this over on short notice, and hit a home run, no, a grand slam! The students turned their space into a factory, and within three weeks produced turkeys and food baskets that went to 100 families in the Hillside community on Tuesday afternoon. Teacher Nicole Turner and her students also helped with this major production, and dozens of students and staffers contributed turkey and food basket donations. Too many smiles and thank yous to recount, but another smashing success for the community-centered Builders Club.
Rallying the Troops for a Special Hawk
Last year a Hillside teacher decided to transition out of teaching. But once a Hawk, always a Hawk. When staffers recently learned of this dear friend’s upcoming surgery to remove a brain tumor, the troops rallied and took action overnight. In addition to supporting the family in various ways, staffers, led by Lauren Wenners, created by hand the beautiful T-shirts worn in the picture above. All Hawks are praying for positive outcomes for their friend.
BRING IT!
With the students having cleared out for the week, and the parking lots emptied, Hillside’s work was far from done. The very popular and student-centered program, BRING IT!, kept the Hillside doors open until almost 9 p.m. on Tuesday. The kids would have attended on Thanksgiving day if allowed! This program will enter its very impressive 16th year in January. All students in the school district, grade 4-12, are welcome to attend. For free. They offer homework help, soccer, dance, career quest, transportation, means, outstanding mentors and more. Talk about community-and-student-focused team building? Learn more about this awesome program at https://bringitafterschool.org.
Girls At Work & Hillside
Girls at Work is one very special program, located on Bedford Street in the old mill buildings. Led by the charismatic, talented and inspirational founder, Elaine Hamel, they have a beautiful location you simply must see and direct girls toward for enrollment and participation.
“I believe teaching girls and women how to use power tools to build provides an experience that shatters the lens of powerlessness that so many struggle with. Our girls and women need extreme measures to silence the voices of self-doubt that consume them at every turn. I believe building does just that and also enables them to discover that the most powerful tool in their arsenal is their voice.”
Elaine just finished a three-week residence at Hillside Middle School. She set up shop in Hillside’s Makerspace, located in the Library Media Center. Each day, a different team of students visited her, one class at a time. Together they created pegboards and very positively bonded over introductions, laughs and various topics. Over two-plus weeks, all of Hillside’s young women enjoyed their time with Elaine, many wanting more time with her, signing up for her building and leadership courses.
Every single day before leaving, Elaine would visit Hillside Principal Brendan McCafferty, aglow after yet another day of positive interactions, observations and recollections. “These girls are just awesome. They are so smart and funny. You should hear how proud they are of themselves and what they accomplished. You should see their eyes light up as we discuss what they’re capable of!” Principal McCafferty added, “The Manchester community should realize what a rock star Elaine Hamel is. She is a magnet, these girls are instantly drawn to her positive and empowering messaging, her kind and fun interactions, and to the things she is opening their eyes to. Girls at Work is a gem, and a model.”
These students had the opportunity to sign up for a special event at Hillside on Wednesday, November 23, the day before Thanksgiving. Wait a minute, on a day off from school, with the opportunity to sleep in and enjoy a lazy day, you think these kids are going to commit to a full day of work on a day off? Well, ladies and gentlemen, 105 Hillside girls signed up for this special, team-building event. And all 105 showed up!
With the streets and school parking lots empty across the city, all 105 of these wonderful, young women showed up to Hillside for a day of team building, collaboration and more. The students were divided into teams by Elaine and Girls at Work colleagues Melissa Cotter and Sue Champagne. The students worked on building picnic tables through two rotations. One set of teams worked outside sanding the wood while the teams inside put the tables together. The groups then switched.
All 105 students listened attentively when Elaine delivered her instruction. They were very positive and focused throughout their day of work. Elaine is very mindful to not give them all the answers, insisting some of their growth comes from the struggle of figuring things out as a team. This event could not have been more successful. The students were all so eager to learn and participate. The students were all so appreciative that this opportunity was not only created for them, but was all about them. There was a heightened sense of community, self-esteem and positivity.
“I am just blown away, ” marveled Hamel, “by not only what took place today, but by our three weeks here at Hillside. The kids, the staff, the leadership, they are unbelievable. I aim to empower young women, to instill a focus on awareness, confidence, team building and positive culture and climate. I just spent three weeks bearing witness to an organization doing it on a much larger scale, and daily! This school is crushing it, people. I have observed and heard so many positive things while here, I am so grateful for this experience.”
>Elaine and Builders Club will continue to collaborate, next steps will include painting these ten picnic tables and finding good, deserving homes for them in the community. And one will remain at Hillside, to serve as a constant reminder to these young women of their work, their success and their potential. Well done!
Hillside Middle School: Team Building In Every Step
Some say it takes a village to make things happen, and Hillside is reflective of this concept. Hillside values collaboration and team building, and knows very well the strength of community. Hillside realizes there is potential in every step it takes. Like partner Girls at Work, Hillside has long recognized the importance of team building. Hillside very mindfully approaches and recognizes every step it takes as an opportunity to positively impact team building and culture and climate. Hillside very positively seeks and embraces any and all partners and opportunities to make Hillside a better atmosphere and organization for its deserving students and staffers.
Thanksgiving is a day of giving thanks for the harvest. Let us all give thanks for the sacrifices made by Manchester’s teachers, schools and these various community organizations, the ones dedicated to creating equity and opportunities for the wonderful children of this community. It is very comforting and refreshing to know these things were happening while Manchester families were relaxing to spend time together. Every student wants to be part of such a special harvest. Let us invest the time and resources so every student has a variety of such opportunities during their time with us.
Contributors: Linda Zapora, Karyn Burgess, Ashley White, Adrian Newton, Margaret Teague, Karen Ricciardi
