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Student's Service Earns Governor's Award

ANDREW VARNON
Special to The Recorder

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

GREENFIELD - Greenfield High School senior Julia Dillon is the kind of student who staged a mock car crash at the school to illustrate the dangers of drinking and driving. Dillon played the part of one of the victims: she was put in a body bag and driven away in a hearse.

Julia Dillion, second from left, receives an award from Gov. Mitt Romney. Submitted photo.

"It doesn't get any more real than that," Dillon recalls.

It was this kind of dedication to community service that earned Dillon the Governor's Points of Light Award. In November, Dillon and her parents traveled to the Statehouse in Boston to an awards banquet with Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann. Dillon was the honoree in the young adult category; there were seven awards given, each to a different category.

The mock car crash was part of a three-month program organized by Dillon and a group of about 50 students from the high school. The Think Smart, Think Safe, Think Sober project netted a $2,000 grant from the State Farm Insurance Agency of Bloomington, Ind., one of 25 such grants awarded to schools across the country. Greenfield was the only school in New England to receive the award this year.

Lisa Moore, a physical education and health teacher at the high school, was one of the advisers to the project and said that Dillon helped to write the grant proposal and played a key part in the project.

"She kind of spearheaded it," Moore said.

While community service has been a longstanding tradition at Greenfield, it is only in the past couple of years that there has been an effort to directly tie that sort of volunteerism into what students are learning in the classroom. Last year, there was a service learning class offered at the school and although a change in the schedule didn't allow it this year, service learning has continued in other classes.

Moore said that Dillon was a great role model for the students in trying to build the service learning program at the school.

"She's one of those people who get people to follow her because of her example," Moore said. "She has a great knack for making this seem like it would be a lot of fun."

As well as staging the mock car crash, Dillon and her fellow students set up a booth at the Franklin County Fair and marched in the parade, wearing T-shirts that read, "Think safe, think smart, think sober."

Visitors to the booth wore "beer goggles," special goggles designed to impair the wearer's vision, as if they were intoxicated.

Dillon said that the students hoped to get Vice Principle Donna Woodcock to attempt to drive a car in a closed course on campus, wearing the beer goggles. She said the group was trying to find ways to keep the dialogue going with the students.

"We want people to keep talking about it," she said.

Last year, Dillon was the chairwoman of a youth sports clinic, holding 12 different sessions to teach young people how to play different sports. She has also been involved in clothing drives. Dillon plans to go to college, where she says she will likely get involved in community service work on campus.

"It's a great way to meet people," she said.

At the high school, Dillon is president of the Key Club and sergeant-at-arms on the student council.

The Governor's Points of Light Award is a new program, administered by the Massachusetts Service Alliance. The private, nonprofit alliance was established in 1991 to serve as the state commission on community service.

As one of the schools winning the $2,000 grant from State Farm, Greenfield is in the running to win the one $10,000 grant that is awarded each year by the insurance agency. Wednesday, December 27, 2006

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Photo Source:

Reading begins early in the
Greenfield Public Schools!!!

Green River and Newton Schools have registered to participate in the Massachusetts Children's Book Awards (MCBA). The program encourages reading for 4th, 5th and 6th graders across the state and is administered by Salem State College (http://www.salemstate.edu/education/mcba/). Unlike the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, which are selected by a panel of 14 experts in the field of children's literature, the Massachusetts Children's Book Award winner is chosen by readers of the books. 

Newton and Green River students who sign up for the program will read at least five titles from the list (found on the MCBA Web site). Reading five (5) books entitles them to vote for their favorites. Ballots will be sent in at the end of January, so that makes for a fairly ambitious reading schedule.

Currently there are 55 students signed up for the program - 25 at Newton School and 30 at Green River. "This is far greater participation than I had anticipated, " say Lynda Shoup, Library Media/Technology Integration Specialist at both schools. "I find myself running out to buy more books!!!"

An end-of-program party is planned to celebrate the great turn out. It will be hosted by Newton School with Green River School parents serving as the shuttle service. Congratulations students!

Newton School - Social Service Project

Check out these exciting events
encouraging personal responsibility
and a sense of community!
(http://www.newtonschoolcares.homestead.com/index.html)

Theme Baskets
(http://www.newtonschoolcares.homestead.com/curriculum.html)

Newton School is also holding
a
Kid's Auction of assorted items.