Building Community with NEST

By Yuxi Chen

January 5, 2026

Each month, teachers and students gather in groups around the Jericho Middle School building for community-focused games and activities.

NEST helps bring the community together by encouraging students to get to know each other so that they can thrive in a safe and comfortable environment. For example, the theme of NEST on October 10, 2025 was “No Matter What.” During this NEST, students and teachers enjoyed a variety of fun activities, such as Rock, Paper, Scissors Entourage, where students played rock, paper, scissors, and the loser followed the winner until only one person remained. Another activity was the Endurance Challenge, where students competed to hold a wall sit or plank the longest. Students also sat in a circle and discussed the topic of the month, with each student contributing a unique response without repeating what others had already said. An additional activity involved students interviewing each other with questions that could be answered with a single word or a short phrase. The students then all returned to the circle and shared what they learned about each other. All NESTs are unique, and contain different games and activities. 

The purpose of NEST is to help students feel connected and welcomed. According to JMS Principal Mr. Gleason, “This concept of school connectedness is not new, there's a lot of research around it, actually.” This research shows that people tend to be happier when they feel a bond to both their school and their community. He added, “The research shows that students who report feeling connected to their school … do better academically; they're less likely to engage in risky behavior like drug use.” 

Gatherings like NEST can create a stronger sense of community. Mr. Gleason noted that “students who report feeling connected are more likely to attend school consistently; they're less likely to be involved in violence.” This shows that students tend to be more self-aware when they feel safe and involved in their community. NEST not only aims for students to share their own ideas, but to also be active listeners to their peers: “The thing we ask our NEST facilitators to do is make sure that every student has a chance to be seen and heard… That's why one person's supposed to have an opportunity to speak at a time when everyone else listens.” In this way, teachers make sure that students feel included. Mr. Gleason hopes that in the future, students might add their own ideas and have fun by creating their own games or activities. He stated, “One of the things that I've set as a goal for our facilitators is to think about ways to give students more and more leadership in their NEST circles.” 

Overall, the goal of NEST is to make students feel safe and included by creating opportunities for them to interact with each other through games and activities. NEST is closely linked to school connectedness, which helps students look forward to school, reduce violent behavior, and attend school consistently. Looking to the future, students may see NEST become even more inclusive, encouraging students to become role models, and giving them more leadership opportunities.