2015-2016

Lead Projects

Rachel Strout

The project went well. The tours were very informative and very personal. The other volunteers were very eager to help. Unfortunately, very few people took advantage of the tours, so there was much downtime for the volunteers. If it had been better advertised or in some way linked to freshmen orientation, I believe it would have been more beneficial. The incoming freshmen who attended got tours of the school to better orient them for the first day.

Allison Law

I worked with Denise Girardin of Natick Artists Open Studios to plan for Art on the Common. Also known as Community Paint Day, this annual event seeks to share the art of painting with the Natick community and to promote the local art scene, such as the October sale. Leading up to the event, I reached out to local businesses for supplies, promoted the event on social media, and assembled a team of NHS volunteers to staff the event. On September 19^th on the Common, we the volunteers helped people get supplies to paint and explained NAOS. It was very fun to see things run smoothly, to paint during the downtime, and to see people enjoy the arts.

Sara Wright

I lead the Cake Walk booth at Natick Days with the help of Chelsey Kurylo and Andrew Dubsky. The event took place on September 12th on the Natick Common. I organized the drop off and pick up of cakes to the school and the event, the donation of pans to bake cakes in, and other logistics such as the cash box and coolers. Additonally, I stored all of the cakes at my house over night. Overall, the project was extremley successful! Over 150 cakes were baked and over 700 dollars were raised to support National Honors Society. The only way that this project could have been improved would be to begin planning the event about 1 week sooner. I am pleased with how the project turned out and happy that so much money was raised to support National Honors Society here at the High School.

Chelsey Kurylo

My lead for national honor society was running the cake walk at Natick Days. I lead the project with Sara and Andrew. We collected cakes from National Honor Society members and organized the logistics for the event itself. We were able to get many cakes and the cakes lasted until the very end of the event. We also organized volunteers to help man the cake walk. The project was very successful and we raised a large sum of money. The money that we raised will benefit National Honor Society. The only way the project could have gone better is if we had a more even amount of volunteers for the time slots during the actual Natick Days event.

Abby Fournier

For my lead project, I opened a computer lab in the Dominican Republic. The project went very well. I spent about a week restoring the community center in Las Canas, a community with which I had worked last year. This involved painting the walls, installing window locks, building tables, cleaning the floors, arranging for electricity and wireless internet to be installed, and clearing a path for a sidewalk outside of the building. When the building was ready, I installed 5 computers that contained Rosetta Stone, Microsoft Word, and digital literacy programs. The computer lab was opened to the community on my last day, and will be used for members of the community of all ages to learn how to use computers, and use online resources such as Khan Academy to expand their learning.

Grace Seiche

For my lead this year, I chose to do my lead in the small town of Mandinga, Panama this year. There were two part of my lead project. The first part was a community based initiative, where I recruited and involved community members in a project to gentrify the local primary school. This included repairing sinks and toilets, painting their playhouse, fixing broken tile, building brick benches, and constructing two swings and two see-saws out of recycled tires. This was a great project. The community was really excited to see the improvements and know they were a part of them. The second part of the project was running after school activities, two hours a day, five days a week, for six weeks. Each week, I planned and led these activities, with the help of local youth, based on the weekly theme. Weekly themes included getting to know yourself and others, environmental issues and your impact, youth leadership, personal and public health, and civic participation. This kids in the community seemed to really enjoy coming to the activities and would often stop me on the street to let me know they were coming. Overall, I think my lead project was very successful. The community of Mandinga was very appreciative of the work and were inspired to be leaders themselves.

Mackenzie Parmenter

I put together a group of National Honor Society Members that helped parents during Open House. We stood at the bottom of the stairs and gave directions to confused parents. We answered questions about the schedule of the night and any other questions they had for us. We also ended up delivering snacks and signing people into the event and giving out schedules. Overall, the project was successful and Mrs. Mauro seemed very appreciative for our help!

Will Parven

I led the carnival events at the Todos Community Fair on September 20th. The fair was held to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I set up and cleaned up the bouncy house, dunk tank, face painting station, rubber duck race station, and other activities and ran the rubber duck race station during the event itself. There were no issues with any of the carnival events, but the fair could have been better advertised. I am glad that the event went well and raised a solid amount of money to help patients who face cancer.

I also led a leaf raking/yard cleanup on November 15th. Beforehand, I coordinated with the Council on Aging, the resident herself, and my group to ensure that the cleanup would run smoothly. The other volunteers showed up on time and we helped the resident by raking her front and back yards and bagging the yard waste. The cleanup went very well- the resident told us that her yard has never looked better and thanked us. I told everyone else to bring their own rakes and gardening gloves, which was a good idea as otherwise we would not have had enough for all of us. The group worked really well together and there were no issues whatsoever. I am pleased with the results of this project and hope to help the Council on Aging in the future as well.

Andrew Dubsky

On September 12th, along with Chelsey Kurylo and Sara Wright, I lead the cake walk at the annual Natick Days fair. This project involved baking and decorating cakes, obtaining and setting up stand materials, running the stand for the duration of the fair, and breaking down the stand afterwards. The cake walk turned out to be very successful, as we had given away all 150+ cakes that we had, raising north of $700! While the numbers don't lie, our project could have benefited from extra time in baking and buying cakes, as the two days we had for this was constricting. Other than this, I was happy with the work that Chelsey, Sara, and I had done to prepare and run this years NHS cake walk.

Kayla Fuller

For my lead I helped out the Senior Center by assisting them with their annual craft fair on November 21st. There I worked by helping them get things out of storage, set up their booth, wrap hot dogs, run the raffle, and clean up. This helped the people at the senior center quite a bit, there are a few things they probably would not have been able to do without my help, like getting some things from storage, and I certainly helped them get things done more efficiently. I think that my lead could have been better if I had asked for help a little earlier, but other than that I have no complaints. The seniors were really happy that I helped them out, and I feel like my fellow volunteer and I made their days by helping them with something I know has stressed them out in the past.

Kerry McNally

For my lead I gathered a group of students to do leaf raking over the weekend. We communicated via email and in person to organize our plans for the event. I communicated with the senor center’s volunteer coordinator so that we could get a yard to rake. Over the weekend we raked leafs from the yard and completed our work. It was very successful and the client was happy with our work.

Madhu Rao

For my lead, I gathered a group of people to rake leaves on November 22nd for a senior citizen in Natick. I had to contact the Council on Aging as well as the senior citizen herself to coordinate the date and time of the leaf raking. Our group of 10 total people was efficiently able to rake the resident's front and back yard in about 2 hours. We all brought our own rakes and some people even brought their own leaf blowers. Overall, it was very successful and the senior citizen was very happy with our thorough job.

Brianna Troccolo

In the Toys for Tots drive, Ariel Vilidnitsky and I worked together to collect donations of new, unwrapped toys for children who are less fortunate to help them have a happy holiday season. We collected toys in boxes in the preschool, Ms. Plachy's room, and the main office. We set up announcements and put up posters around the school. Overall, the box in the main office received the most toys, with the preschool coming in second with a decent amount of toys. Overall, this project went well and it felt very rewarding to help others.

Ariel Vilidnitsky

For my lead project this year, I organized and ran Natick High’s Toys for Tots collection drive with Brianna Troccolo from early November through December 15th. Toys for Tots is a national initiative run by the U.S. Marines that collects new, unwrapped toys to give to underprivileged children during the holidays. Brianna and I set up donation boxes around school in the front office, Ms. Plachy’s room, and outside the preschool’s office. We advertised the event through the TVs around school, as well as through morning announcements and weekly newsblasts (sent to both high school and preschool families). We also made physical posters that we hung around the first and second floor, and we tried to informally advertise the drive via Facebook. Because the drive started around the time that student council’s food drive was ending, we did not get many donations during the first few weeks as the food drive was on most people’s minds. However, we did end up getting many more donations come December, with the front office box overflowing by the last week of the drive. Brianna and I ended up filling 4 very large trash bags worth of toys, which we know will help so many underprivileged children across the country have a happy holiday season this year!

Christina Monnen

For my lead project, I successfully organized a performance of children's literature for the NHS preschool, just as I did last year. It was designed to promote reading as an exciting and educational pastime by using live theater to engage the kids in the stories. The cast (Matt D'Alessandro, Emma Foley, me, and Rachel Strout) acted out Dr. Seuss books and poems, bringing the fantastic characters to life through acting and dancing. We performed on December 15, 2015. Both the preschoolers and their teachers thoroughly enjoyed the show, and many kids wanted to go home and read the books aloud with their parents. I hope that after I graduate, one of the new NHS members will organize similar show next year, continuing to encourage a love of reading and theater in young children.

Sydney Turcot

This year I lead a leaf raking project for Natick's Council on Aging. The project happened in November for 3 hours one afternoon. The project had an impact on an elderly lady living alone in Natick. She was unable to clear her yard of leaves and sticks, so a group of myself and four other students helped her out. It felt good to help someone in the neighborhood out and it was fun to spend time outside. The elderly woman was very appreciative of our help and I would recommend other National Honor Society students help elderly people in need because it feels good for both parties.

Kiana Harper

I, Kiana Harper, was responsible for the creation and execution of the first Natick High Open Mic. My project happened at Natick High School in the Dining hall. It ran from 7 to 8pm. I spent an hours gathering signatures and meeting with faculty about the details of this project. I spent a couple of hours organizing the notes for what I had to accomplish, who I had to get signatures from, and sending emails to chaperones. I also spent time contacting potential volunteers. I spent 2 hours after school making posters with volunteers, writing announcements, and creating the slide for the TV’s. I spent a morning putting up posters all over school with some volunteers, we distributed them onto bulletin boards and in classrooms. A lot of hours were spent preplanning before the event. The open mic sheets were created and all the materials organized. I spent time before the open mic writing speeches and practicing them. The night before the open mic I emailed volunteers and shopped for food. I spent 3 hours at the actual open mic event. I came at 5:30 for set up creating additional posters to direct patrons to the dining hall. I ran the event after that hosting and making sure the patrons and performers were enjoying themselves. By 8:30 the dining hall was cleaned; everything was put back into place. I felt that this open mic affected a lot of people positively. The performers, some of them for the first time, had a place to express their creativity. We had singers, musicians, a band, poets, and a speech. We had about 44 patrons when the projected amount was 20 so that was exciting. Many parents were pleased to have a place to view their children’s accomplishments which I enjoyed facilitating. I recruited many people to help. The chaperones included:Ms. Ross, Ms. Robin, Ms. MacAlpine, and Ms. Greenholt. The volunteers who helped out during the entire process included: Kayla Fuller, Allison Law, Brianna Troccolo, Emily Moncata, Alyssa Clune, Genevieve Winn, Elise Rodman, Jessica Bost, Jessica Mitchell, Bianca Harper, and Gracie Jackson. Working on this project was a blast! It gave me a lot of respect for event coordinators and I hope to create a similar event like this in the future.

Lauren McIver

As a lead for National Honor Society I volunteered for a Christmas Gift Drive for foster children during the holiday season. The job consisted of transporting gifts from Saint Demetrios church to a participants garage, and then organizing the gifts so that they can be sent out to the children. The gifts were collected onDecember 13th and were organized and ready to be sent out by December 15th so that there would be plenty of time for them to be delivered by Christmas. Members of the church collectively donated 200 toys to be given to different foster children which helped make their Christmas better and brighter.

Elizabeth Gee

For my lead I planned and organized a student panel and student tours for the Class 2020 Parent Transition night. Allie and I had to select people to participate, brief kids on how tours worked, greet people at the parent night, and also speak and answer questions. I participated in these tours and panels when I was a freshmen, sophomore, and junior but this was my first time organizing the entire thing. I have been a peer leader for five years and a peer trainer for four years so it was awesome to get the opportunity to take these task on! The project went awesome! We had the parents laughing and they asked a lot of good questions so I hope that we helped them and made them less nervous about having there kids enter high school. It was a lot of fun and I am so glad we got to participate.

Jennifer Powers

This Sunday I helped run the obstacle course at the Patrick’s Promise fundraiser. Patrick was a Natick High School graduate who tragically died in 2013. The fundraiser is to help raise money for the foundation and promote healthy life styles for the youth and young adults of today as well as to remember and celebrate Patrick. The fundraiser was on Sunday on the outdoor track at Natick High and consisted of two walk run miles and an extremely challenging obstacle course. I have been working on this project for quite a while now. I rallied some friends and fellow National Honor Society members to help me out in receiving fundraising from companies, hanging flyers, and on Sunday setting up/taking down the obstacle course, as well as running part of it. Patrick’s parents and friends were extremely grateful for the help we were able to give and were happy to see people in the community staying active in trying to make sure Patrick’s wishes are accomplished. Overall this was a great experience that I would love to take part in again next year.

Tim Chung

For my lead on March 5 I organized a group of teens to meet at my church in Newton where we would help tidy up the church and have fellowship time. By doing so we vacuumed around the whole church and re-painted walls in a couple rooms. This event was overnight so we began in the afternoon and stopped at night but continued in the morning. One things that I wish could have happened was for more people to come. There was about 20 teens who came but if more came, we would have been able to work faster and finish more rooms for painting. Overall the teens had a lot of fun and the church appreciated the work we put into helping the church.

Mia Barr

For my lead project, I designed and facilitated a gun violence prevention event for my temple youth group. We invited other youth groups from the surrounding area and had seventy teens in attendance. We partnered with the Roxbury Presbyterian Church's Social Impact Center, which provides after school opportunities with the mission to keep kids off the street and fight gun violence, all while implementing educational and economic development programs for the greater Roxbury community. Seven teenagers from the Roxbury Presbyterian Church attended the event and participated with our teenagers in a variety of programs ranging from small group discussion about gun violence to political advocacy through writing letters to politicians about gun violence prevention to learning and performing a song written exclusively for the event by two of the teenagers in my youth group. Because we were able to underwrite the entire cost of the event through donations, we were able to cut a check for over $3,300 to the Social Impact Center. The donation will provide necessary money to fund the amazing programs that the Social Impact Center runs for the Roxbury community. Overall, the event went incredibly well and I am honored to have led such an amazing event.

Alexia Kovatsis

For my project I taught at FACE preschool. My job was to oversee and interact with the kids. I helped them figure out puzzles, read to them, and interacted with them in many other ways to help stimulate positive communications, environment, and brain development. This was not only beneficial to the students but to the other teachers since they had another pair of hands, eyes, and ears for the kids. I really enjoyed working with them and it was rewarding when I saw a student figure out a problem with little to no help. I am glad I was able to help the school and I could tell the students enjoyed it as well.

Christopher Reardon

For my lead, I directed the filming of the school committee, planning board, and selectmen debates on Tuesday, March 15th. My first responsibility was getting the camera equipment and setting it up for the debate. As the candidates arrived, I met them and had them sign releases so we could include them in the broadcast. During the filming, I manned a camera and assisted the other volunteers with their responsibility. Everything went quite well and it felt great to assist in our local government. I would be happy to help with a similar event in the future.

Zoey Gifford

For my lead I did a trash clean-up day in the areas around Dug Pond and the High School. I recruited some volunteers to join me and I supplied bags and gloves for everyone to use. We spent 3 hours walking around picking up trash and recyclables. The weather posed as a bit of a threat to the project, but we worked around it and successfully completed what we had set out to do. This project benefited the community because it made our environment a cleaner and safer place to live and explore.

Justine Gaziano

This year for my lead project for National Honor Society I decided to organize a food drive within my neighborhood with my brother and his two friends. The three boys are 12 years old, and currently do not quite yet know how to initiate communication and speak to others, especially adults. And so, alongside coordinating the details of the food drive, I instructed them on how to ask people for donations with the goal of providing them with skills to be able to communicate with other people in a proper manner. As we went door to door I taught them how to shake another person’s hand (if they do not know them), make eye contact when speaking with another person and to speak clearly and with confidence. The first few houses we went to the boys struggled, but by the end their ability to communicate with other people, specifically adults improved immensely. Together, after collecting all of the donations from the families in the neighborhood, we brought the bags of food, drinks and other canned goods to the Natick Service Council/Food Pantry where the items will be distributed to those in need.

David Marsh

For my lead, I was in charge of filming Pop Idol for Natick Pegasus on March 24th. My first job was to get other students involved in the student run production. The day of, I arrived two hours before the show to help set up cameras, run wires, and test out equipment. Once the show started I was in charge of giving directions to three different cameras and making sure the recording went smoothly. We had some technical difficulties in the beginning but I was able to fix them by replacing a camera wire. I stayed an hour after the show to clean up all the equipment. This production allowed for many people to watch the show if they were not there and it was students run so it gave students new responsibilities as well as working as a team.

Hadley Browning

For my lead project, I was on the board of “NHS Connections”, a club that runs during CDS and occasionally after school. We have been working in our school’s Access Program everyday since the first day of school. In the mornings we play games like Hangman, Heads-Up, and Uno, as well as games that involve some practical thinking. These games work on integrating the Access students with other students in varying grades and creating bonds between these kids with special needs and their peers. Our after school activities promote more critical thinking and school involvement. Some of the activities we have done include a scavenger hunt around the school, learning how to make cookies and homemade pizza, movie day, and a dance party. For the rest of this year, I have organized for our club and the Access students to attend Kite Day with Autism Alliance and to attend a Red Sox game in May. So far my project is going extremely well and it makes me happy that I can make a difference in the lives of these kids that I have built such close bonds with. I am looking forward to finishing off my Senior year positively with these kids and I will greatly miss all of the bonds and friendships I have created in this program.

Marisa Uluski

For my lead, me and one other girl who co-led got a group of National Honors Society members together to go visit a nursing home. We went to Sunrise in Wayland to do arts and crafts with some of the ladies there. Before hand, we bought the supplies for multiple projects, tried them all out, picked the best one and made an example. We brought the supplies already separated out into individual bags for each person to make customizable Styrofoam pots of flowers that could be hung up. They all seemed really excited that they got to do this and keep it to hang on their door. The group and I assisted them in creating their masterpieces (as they called them!) by peeling the sticker backs off of the flowers and placing them where the women wanted them and by drawing stems for the flowers. The women also just enjoyed having the company even after the craft was done. We all got along very well, talking about what we do with the National Honors Society, what we are doing for college, where we are from, and all of that fun stuff. It was definitely a unique experience that required a lot of attention and patience, which I believe that my group and I did very well. There were many instances where we were all laughing along with them and enjoying being able to help them and allow them to be creative.

Hailey McCall

In art class I overheard Ms. Curran talking to herself about how stressed she was about getting her whole art room cleaned and manage to take her daughter to basketball all week. So my lead was organizing a group of students to help out Ms. Curran by cleaning her art room. I got four students to help me clean brushes, pallets and counter tops. We did two days after school for an hour of non-stop cleaning. In this time Ms. Curran caught up on grading that needs to be done before the term ends and was able to pick up her daughter. Ms. Curran said we saved her about a week of cleaning.

Rebecca Savoia

Speedball is an annual tournament run by students every year during the weeks between winter and spring sports. I decided to take the lead on this tournament this year with the help of Scott Holcomb and Sammy Ferrera. We organized the tournament and had 14 teams participate. Through participation fees and donations we raised over $1400 for Connor Heffler and his family. One of the days we had Connor come watch the tournament and allowed him to throw the tip off for one of the games, which he said he really enjoyed doing. The project was a huge success, the only thing making it more successful would be having more spectators coming to support the tournament and give donations.

Allie Mega

On March 9th I hosted an eight grade parent night, where a group of students lead tours and held a question/answer panel for the incoming parents. For the few weeks before that night, I took the time to gather a group of students from all four grades. We met, and discussed the plan, and then met at the school. This night was very successful. There were not many parents at the tours, because a few weeks earlier, there was an incoming parent night, were they also offered tours. The panel was very successful, as many parents attending and asked questions that the students were able to answer. If I were to do it again, I would either get rid of the tours, or do it before or with the first eight grade parent night, so more parents would attend the tours!

Sam Major

For my lead, I traveled to Costa Rica and Panama to live in a village and help baby sea turtles hatch. My travel companions and I lived in the Soki Village, which is located in the wilderness of Talamanca. We built a sidewalk out of cement and we painted/sanded desks for the schools. While living in the village, We slept in a small school house and played with the kids when we were not working. Then, we traveled to Panama and worked on a baby sea turtle reserve. At night, we walked the beaches and during the day, we helped sea turtles get to the water. Overall, the service project was an incredible adventure and it could not have gone better. I hope to go back again to help with more projects soon.

James Traficonte

As a lead for National Honor Society I organized a group of students to help rake leaves for a senior citizen on November 22nd. The Natick Senior Center had contacted NHS regarding help with leaf raking and I volunteered a group of students to assist the homeowner. I contacted the homeowner to coordinate a date and time for this project. This project took about 2 hrs 30min as we cleaned the homeowner’s lawn. We all brought our own equipment (rakes/ leaf blowers). We were very efficient because there was also another group of students that helped rake the same yard. This project was very successful because we were able to clean their lawn and the homeowner was very happy with our work.

Kylie Schechtman

For my project, I led a group of students in the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk. The purpose of the walk was to raise money for breast cancer research and education as well as to support survivors and those currently struggling with breast cancer. In order to make an impact, I gathered a group of eight students to join my team. We held a fundraiser outside of CVS in order to collect donations to contribute to our team and raise awareness. On the day of the walk, we traveled into Boston and walked about five miles in addition to attending the group activities for the walk that were held at the hatch shell. Overall, we were able to make a large impact on the community by raising money as well as showing our support for those who have battled with breast cancer.

Michaela McTague

For this project I co-lead with Marisa Uluski and we got two other volunteers to help as well. The project itself was going to the nursing home and doing an arts and crafts activity with the people there. To prepare we tried out different crafts we could do until we decided on creating sticker flower pots. We bought the supplies and put it together. The project went well, the ladies we did the craft with enjoyed it and they liked talking to us as well. I think next time more volunteers would be helpful because the ladies wanted to talk to you but everyone needed help.

Chai Vedula

Gracie Jackson and I co-led a homeless outreach in Boston. To begin with, we brought together a group consisting of Craig Coco, Genevieve Winn, Jess Bost, Elise Rodman, and Cam Ouellette and asked them for help with buying supplies to put in care packages. Gracie and I organized the packing process and we all set out to Boston. We traveled the streets and gave care packages to the homeless, who benefited from this project. Towards the end of the outreach, we gave leftover packages to a homeless shelter. The project was very successful, seeing as we gave out all fifty care packages we had made to the people in need.

Jacob Bastarache

This spring I volunteered my time to the Milford Special Olympic wrestling team. The experience consisted of me running practices and wrestling with kids with mental disabilities such as downs syndrome and autism. We met every Thursday at 7:00 at Milford High School. All eleven kids would wrestle for an hour and finish practice with a quick match where everyone wins. The project went very well, the kids loved it, and learned a lot about wrestling. I also had a lot of fun. The only improvement I would ask for next time would be to have more coaches with me. We only had three other couches and I feel it would have ben more beneficial for the kids to have more one on one time with coaches and would have been easy if we had a few more coaches.

Grace Loughlin

I organized and conducted a clothing drive for "A Place to Turn" and asked my teammates to bring their old clothes to practice. I held the drive for a few weeks so everyone would have a chance to bring their clothes in. After the deadline was up to bring in clothes, we had collected about 10 garbage bags full of clothes to donate. I then brought the clothes to "A Place to Turn" to be donated to help those in the community in need.

Rachel Kutok

My lead project was organizing and working with kids on their hockey skills. I volunteered every Thursday from November to December for around four hours. We focused on improving their skills and making each player overall better. We stayed organized and made sure that we had drills already planned out so that we were prepared to teach the kids. One of the issues that we had was that some of the boys that were helping us weren’t as focused on helping the kids. Next time we try to do something like this again, we should make sure that everyone is focused on helping improve the kid’s skills. Overall, we were able to help the kids become better hockey players from the beginning of when we started to the last time.

Sydney Kinder

For my National Honor Society lead I helped coach the youth cheerleading program for Natick. I choreographed their half time and competition routines and helped them at practice, games and competitions. This year they placed and moved on from the Baystate league competition to the New England Regionals. Overall, I'd say they had a very successful season and it was a very fun project.

Sam Schultz

For my lead, Laura Sears and I completed arts and crafts with the kids at Mary’s Shelter in Waltham. Over February break we went every day and had a new project for the kids to try. One of their favorites seemed to be the homemade playdough that we created and they loved playing with it. We also made rain bottles, oobleck (another favorite), minion coloring pages and activities, as well as other drawings. They seemed to enjoy the projects most that made a mess and that were very hands on.

Laura Sears

My lead project was organizing and doing crafts with children from a Mary's House Shelter in Waltham. Over April break we went several days, a few hours at a time, doing hands on crafts with the children. I think that one of the children's favorite craft was making homemade play dough, they really seemed to enjoy the hands on process of making it and playing with it for a while. Some other projects we did were oobleck, a rain bottle, minion crafts, coloring, and more. The children seemed to enjoy the arts and crafts. Also, this allowed parents to have time to complete the tasks they needed to get done and watch the children for them for a few hours.

Gavin Chandler

For my lead project, I was in charge of the filming and directing of the band concert on March 30th, 2016 for Natick Pegasus which took place at Natick High from 7 PM to 9 PM. Before the actual event, I recruited people to film the event and set out emails to organize them and make sure they knew when to show up and what they needed to do. The day of the concert, I arrived 2 hours early to set up the cameras, audio, wires, and made sure all the equipment was running before the event started. This was done with the help of Chris Anderson who works for Natick Pegasus. When the camera men arrived I explained to them their individual roles and how to work the equipment. During the concert I directed the camera men on what shots to get, told them to adjust their shots if needed, and switched between the different shots to create the live footage. Once it ended, I stayed for an extra hour to clean up all the equipment. The project went very smoothly and because of it people that were unable to watch the concert can now watch it, and band students can purchase the film if they want to show it to others. I enjoyed this project very much and I am glad I was able to help others.

Julia Treon

For my lead project I planned and taught lessons for elementary aged special education students at Hosmer Elementary School in Watertown on September 14-15. I was given information by the students classroom teacher that needed to be taught to the students in a smaller class setting and planned lessons based on that information. Leading the lessons was very interesting because I had to learn how to teach the students in a way that would keep them engaged. The lessons on reading and writing were especially fun, but many of the students found it difficult to stay focused during the math lesson. I really enjoyed this opportunity because the kids seemed so excited to work outside of their normal classroom where they don't have to be embarrassed to ask for help in front of their peers.

Kate Garry

For my lead, I completed a cleanup of Dug Pond this past fall. A variety of people helped me including Mr. Milch (head of Earth Club), Patrick Conway (a volunteer), and members of Earth Club. We split into canoes and cleaned the shore line as well as Blueberry Island. We collected many bags of cans and bottles as well as a folding chair, a fishing lure, and a camping pot. All and all it was a successful cleanup.

Scott Holcomb Jr.

The Speedball tournament has been going on for many years, I decided to continue the tradition with the help of Becky Savoia and Sammy Ferrera. The tournament consisted of 14 teams, both boys and girls. The money we raised, which was over $1400, was donated to Connor Heffler. We even honored Connor during one of our games, and allowed him to throw the jump ball. The tournament was very successful, one thing that could have gone better is the amount of people coming to watch. Although we raised a lot of money, we could have raised more had more people been present and donated to the cause.

Jess Sweeney

The Speedball tournament has been going on for many years, I decided to continue the tradition with the help of Becky Savoia and Sammy Ferrera. The tournament consisted of 14 teams, both boys and girls. The money we raised, which was over $1400, was donated to Connor Heffler. We even honored Connor during one of our games, and allowed him to throw the jump ball. The tournament was very successful, one thing that could have gone better is the amount of people coming to watch. Although we raised a lot of money, we could have raised more had more people been present and donated to the cause.

Alyssa Bravin

For my lead project, I assembled a team of NHS members to clean up the Timothy Coolidge Woods, which are those that are across from the football field and touch the junior lot. I organized the cleanup in affiliation with Mr. Pat Conaway, who is in charge of Big Hearts, Little Feet, a movement to keep Natick's environment clean and beatiful. From him, I obtained trash bags, gloves, collapsible trash barrels, and pickers which we used to pick up as much litter as we could find along the trails, at the edge of the pond, and around the edge of the junior lot. We filled up four large trash bags with all kinds of litter! The only improvement I would suggest for the future would be to get more volunteers to help, because more sets of eyes can spot more litter and do a more thorough job. But overall, I am very proud of my team for removing so much garbage which was soiling the earth. It was a very rewarding project because of teh strong, local, immediate impact on an important issue. Finally, a PSA to everyone reading this: we found a lot of trash around the junior lot; be mindful of your litter!

Charlie Ide

On April 16th & 17th, Bo Yang and I cleaned up the Coolidge Woods around the hospital and Coolidge Field. We spent the first few hours walking all around the woods and the hill picking up trash that we saw on the ground and putting it into trash bags we carried around. We spent the majority of our time on the project picking up broken glass and air soft pellets at and around the top of Coolidge Hill. We explored multiple methods to pick up the tiny pieces of broken glass, however there was no efficient way to clean up the glass so it took us a lot of time to clean up the glass. People who hike around the woods benefitted the most from our clean up, especially those walking dogs who no longer need to deal with the broken glass on the ground.

Elise Rodman

This event went very well! I think we could have advertised the event better by hanging posters up in the school about it, but since this was the first event like this that we had hosted, it was overall a success! We had 60-70 students which was more than expected. High schoolers from Natick and surrounding towns benefited from this.

Brian Knight

This year I created a cancer donation box for my lead project. I completed the project at Natick’s Gourmet Decisions during the last week of March. After picking up the donation box on the last day of leaving it out, I created a PowerPoint presentation about cancer to spread cancer awareness to my friends and family. What inspired me to do this project was my friend’s grandmother. She passed away from breast cancer in 2012 and this had a big impact on me. I was very close with her. I also have a couple of relatives who are battling and have battled cancer in the past. I used the donation box to help raise money for the cause and I used the PowerPoint to help spread awareness. I think if people see the numbers and become more knowledgeable about all types of cancer they will be more likely to donate.

Quentin Putnam

For my lead, me and some other NHS members cleaned up the broken glass and other miscellaneous trash on top of Coolidge Hill. People often go to the top of Coolidge with bottles of beer or wine, and with no convenient place to dispose of them, shatter them on the rocks. This leaves a lot of broken glass on and around the top of the hill, which is hazardous to people who walk around there, so on Saturday April 30th, we climbed, armed with trash bags, gloves, and a ton of water, to pick it up. The clean-up itself went well, and we managed to pick up and eventually dispose of all the large and medium pieces of glass, leaving only small fragments embedded in the dirt or in between rocks - not likely to cause any injury. We even met a group of kids and a hiker while on the top of the hill, the latter of which was very appreciative of what we were doing. It did have it’s faults, however. The biggest issue was that our group was larger than expected, so some of us were forced to use latex gloves instead of working gloves. Unfortunately, while picking up glass, Chai cut his finger due to the glove’s thin membrane. While he is okay now, as we are fairly certain the cut isn’t infected, this could have gone much worse and we should take better precautions in the future. However, the project was still a success and we undoubtedly helped make the lives of the members of the Natick community safer.

Mark O'Connor

On May 1, 2016, I led a group to participate in the Framingham State University Relay for Life event. Throughout the process of this event I recruited team members, donated my own money and raised money to donate to the American Cancer Society. I also organized my team on the day of the event and made sure everyone made it to the event successfully. This work had an impact on cancer patients. The American Cancer Society uses the money that my team raised and donated to help cancer patients. They use this money to provide transportation to patients and use it to help with the expensive costs of cancer treatments. I recruited Zachary Geller and Ari Kornreich to help me with this project. This event went extremely well, with only a few minor problems.

Vijay Yedidi

On April 30, 2016, I organized a group of 5 students to clean up the Coolidge Trail. I'll admit, my planning on this wasn't great at all, and it was thrown together in the last minute, but the project itself went well.

We climbed up Coolidge Hill, searching for trash on the way up, and we found many small pieces of trash, from shards of glass to cigarette packs. But the highest concentration was at the top of the hill. We found tons of glass, mostly from broken bottles. We made a pretty big impact by collecting the glass shards, as we broke up into covering different parts of the hill, and we collected a great percentage of the glass.

I had initially brought together a group of myself, Andrew Dubsky, Chai Vedula, and Ariel Vilidnitsky. Quentin Putnam and Peter Waller had their own group with the same goal as ours, so we decided to merge groups in the last minute. We would have spent more time there, but one of our members ended up cutting his finger on a shard of glass. It was still overall a great experience, and we provided our town an important service.

Sarah Woolard

As our lead project, Julia Guthery and I ran a district-wide book drive for the charity, Reach Out and Read. This organization fundraises and collects books for low-income pediatrician offices in the Greater Boston area. These offices have very little funding and see many patients everyday. Thus, many children spend a lot of time in the waiting room - and that’s where the books come in! We wanted to cast a wide net to collect books, so we reached out to all eight public schools in Natick. They all allowed us to place donation boxes and fliers in the libraries or main offices of each school. After a couple weeks, we were lucky enough to receive over 800 books! The books were sorted into age groups and delivered to a pediatrician office in Framingham. Naturally they were thrilled, but actually couldn’t take all the books because they didn’t enough storage! We now have about 400 books left, which we plan to distribute to other offices very soon. Overall, this project was more of a success than we could have ever hoped for. In such little time, we were able to collect hundreds of books for children in need, with the help of the amazing Natick community.

Natalie Williams

For my lead in National Honors Society I organized a food drive for the Natick Food Pantry. I sent out several emails to a large group of friends and neighbors and gave out flyers to people. During the food drive I collected a variety of foods and filled roughly 8-10 bags. The project went well and the people at the food pantry were very thankful for my donation!

Amanda Norchi

The project was enjoyable, because I love English and enjoy tutoring. I like helping plan essays and editing. I met with the girl I tutored often to go over her writing, although we were often short on time due to scheduling conflicts and time constraints (which was unavoidable). Overall, hopefully the student benefited from the tutoring and learned from it.

Kate Gerry

For this project Sabrina and I taught religious education to a group of second grade boys throughout the year at our church. Second grade is the year kids receive first communion, so we spent the year preparing them for this sacrament. Each week we taught them a lesson from our teachers book, and then came up with some activity to help with the learning. We remembered being students in this program only a few years ago, so every week we tried to make it a priority to teach the material in a way that was engaging and meaningful to the kids. To do this we often did crafts or drawing activites that encouraged the kids to apply the lessons to their lives while being creative. Overall the project was a success, we think the kids really enjoyed the year and we loved teaching them.

Connor Reardon

As part of a Natick Lacrosse fundraiser we auctioned off 4 hours of time to a family who wanted yard work done. I organized 5 other volunteers from the varsity lacrosse team and we did various jobs for the family (i.e. weeding, mulching, mowing, etc.). The work went well, we finished the jobs that they originally requested plus a few others and finished in under 4 hours. It could have gone better if we were more coordinated about who was bringing which tools, but it worked out that the family had plenty. We also ending up breaking the lawn mower which was on its last leg, but it was just because of old age. Overall, the project was successful and fun.

Sabrina Kaliouby

For our lead project Kate and I taught a second grade religious education class. We met every Sunday with our class of second grade boys and explored different ways to incorporate the curriculum. We encouraged them to read aloud, help each other, and be engaged in their learning. Our main goal of the year was to prepare the students to receive the sacrament of First Holy Communion. To do this we would not only follow the textbook lessons, but we also developed activities and crafts to keep the material relatable and fun. Spending time helping teach these students was very rewarding and they had a good time as well.

Brendan Benjamin

For my lead project, I organized a small group to help with Natick's 2nd annual Green-Up week (over April vacation). The group spent two days cleaning the paths behind Lilja Elementary School, the first day picking up large amounts of trash along the path and around the DPW site, the second day clearing fallen trees from blocking the narrow pathways. The project will benefit those who use the paths everyday for walking dogs or going to school. I think it would have been beneficial to put a trashcan down near the DPW entrance because we found most of the litter in that area. A new trashcan would hopefully avoid such a buildup of litter again.

Nicole McPherson

The lead that I decided to complete for National Honors Society this year was to help an elderly woman clean out her condo during her moving process. This required myself and three other students to go through this woman's many closets and work with her to get rid of excess clothing that she may not have room for in her new apartment. After we completed the work at her condo we took the bags filled with "get-rid-of" clothes and donated them to Savers donation center. Overall the work we completed during this project went well and was very much appreciated.

Cam Ouellette

On Sunday May 1st, I participated in the walk for hunger with Chai Vedula, Gracie Jackson, and my coleader, Genevieve Winn. By forming a team for the walk, we were tasked with raising money and then walking the 10 miles in Boston. The walk was very good as there was a large turnout of people and a lot of money was raised to buy food for the homeless and hungry in the Boston area. However, there were some things that could have gone better. First off, our team could have started raising money sooner and then we would have been able to help the people who are going to receive food due to the money raised. Also, better timing would have been a good plan as we were not prepared and inaccurately guessed the amount of time the walk and the whole 10 miles would actually take. Overall, the walk was a success and thousands of people came out in cold, rainy weather to help raise money and awareness for the homeless and hungry that live in our communities.

Gracie Jackson

For my lead, Chai Vedula and I took a group of sevent volunteers into Boston to distribute care packages with food and general necessities for homeless people in the community. The project took about six hours and was a great success! We were able to distribute all fifty packs and donate the last few to a local shelter. A few things I would change is to organize the materials a bit more when assembling the kits and also to reach out to more people so we can reach even more people than those that we did!

Sidney Coffman

On November 22, Madhu and I co-lead a group including Kayla Fuller, Genevieve, Ariel and more to rake leaves at Jean Collette house. Madhu and I received an email from Karen Edwards and were able to pick various dates that we could rake leaves. Jean described that her husband was no longer able to rake the leaves of her house. Her backyard was large and had uneven ground. She lived by a forest and we raked a pile of leaves into a blanket to then throw into the woods. We brought our own rakes and even a leaf blower. I was very happy to have the opportunity to help Jean. She was very appreciative of us helping out and brought us cider and donuts to say thanks, which was very nice of her because she didn’t have to do that. The entirety of the project took 4 hours.

Genevieve Winn

On Sunday May 1, 2016 I participated in the Walk for Hunger, co-leading a team with Cam Ouellette. We recruited two other friends, Gracie Jackson and Chai Vedula, to help in the walk and fundraise money. We fundraised some money in the weeks before the project, and raised awareness of this Project Bread initiative through talking with friends and family and requesting donations and support. Then on Sunday, we walked 10 miles in Boston with 30,000 other people to raise money and awareness of the hunger epidemic in our nation. This project impacts all those who do not have enough food on the table and are assisted by Project Bread. Together, we can end hunger!

Gillian Lynch

A few students and I decided that we wanted to do more to help out a family in Natick that is trying to raise money to buy a service dog for their children who are on the Autism spectrum. We were able to raise the money through the organization called Autism Alliance and we decided that the best way to raise money would be through a bake sale because they have been successful in the past. We got together and spent the time to bake cookies, brownies, rice crispy treats, and more to sell at the bake sale. We received permission from Roche Brothers to hold the bake sale outside of the store so that people who were coming in and out to do their grocery shopping would see us and hopefully donate. We sold everything for $1 a piece, and most people who bought something ended up buying more than one item, and even giving generous donations. This allowed me personally to interact with all of the kind and generous people in Natick who donated to a great cause.

Olivia Alcott

For my lead project I was a leader at Princess Camp. This camp took place at Good Shepard Parish in Wayland. Through the week young girls learned similarities between princess and saints and took part in crafts, activities, and games. The girls loved the camp and it was rewarding to help them learn and see them having fun and making new friends. At the end of the week we had a crowning ceremony for the girls and they all received crowns and dressed up in their princess dresses. This was a very rewarding experience.

Julia Guthery

For my lead project, I collected books for the charity Reach out and Read with Sarah Woolard. We decorated cardboard boxes and made fliers to hand out. We put boxes in all of the Natick Public Schools. We collected them for the two weeks before the MLK Jr. event at the High School. We were so fortunate that so many people were willing to donate. We collected 800-1000 books, which was way more than expected. It has taken a lot of work, trying to coordinate places that will take the books. Reach out and Read works with doctors offices, and gives books to doctors that can then give books to kids without many resources. I was so happy to bring a bunch of the books to the Framingham Pediatric Center. The people were so nice, and I'm so grateful that I could aid them in any way.

Jacob Stone

My lead project was baking cookies, brownies, rice krispy treats, and other baked goods for a bake sale at Roche Bros that benefited the Autism Alliance. We ran the table at Roche from 10 am to 3 pm and collected a total of just over $300, sales and donations combined. Baking the goods at my house took about 5 hours. The money raised from this bake sale was donated to a family in Natick whose son is autistic and in need of a service dog. We completed a similar project through the NHS Key Club a month or so ago for the same family.

Will Regenauer

I did my lead project at an elderly man's house in Natick in November. Two other national honors society members and I raked his yard for six hours. Our work really helped out this man and he was very appreciative of our time and effort and he showed his gratitude by buying us a pizza. Ultimately the project was a huge success and we were very happy to help an elderly man in our community.

Jess Bost

The Fastbreak retreat was a huge success this year. We had a record number of students attend, and everything ran smoothly. Myself and the other emcee were very prepared for the conference and had all of the games and skits planned out and practiced ahead of time. If there was a timing issue, we were able to improvise successfully and keep the students engaged as we transitioned from one thing to the next. Through games we were able to break down social barriers and introduce new people to one another. By putting ourselves out there and making jokes and not being afraid of looking silly, we made everyone else feel more comfortable and relaxed, helping everyone to make the most of the conference and to enjoy it as much as possible. I am so glad to have had this experience, of not just participating in a conference, but with helping to plan it and with emceeing. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I learned so much about running an event, and about my own strengths, from the experience.

Erika Kjersgard

For my lead project, Oliver Jennings and I co-founded a STEM camp set during April vacation. The camp for middle school students ran from Tuesday through Friday during the break, and it was held at the Natick High School. Three months ago, Oliver had the idea to start a camp to get more kids interested in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and I helped him make it a reality. We decided to have a different focus for each day of the camp in order to reach all four aspects of STEM, including biology, chemistry, engineering, computers, and physics. Throughout the process of designing the camp, we met with the administration to approve the camp, and worked with teachers to further develop the curriculum. As well, we filled out forms in order to use the school rooms, bought most of the supplies, and advertised for the camp.

Overall, 28 kids signed up for the camp, and 12-14 student counselors came to help out each day. For every experiment, a student teacher for the topic was assigned beforehand. The student teachers had to lead the development of their own curriculum, and make sure that they had practiced what they were teaching before the start of the camp. The student teachers included Katie Tumang, Sam Cohen, Prava Dhulipalla, Izak Safran, and many more. Many middle school students were impacted by this camp, and many have been inspired to participate in the robotics summer camp through the Natick Summer Academics program. As well, some kids enjoyed the experience so much that they are considering joining STEM related clubs and classes in high school.

Ben Daley

The project I lead was the filming of the winter concert. The concert went well with only a few technical difficulties. The set up required us to fix the cameras tripod because of a loose screw. The project was overall succesful and provided video of parent's children for them to enjoy.

Jacqueline Gerard

I delivered a presentation at the Anti Defamation League conference in Boston, MA on March 18th. The focus of this years conference was racism and how individuals can work to combat stereotypes. By focusing on how a community can make small changes, group became more aware of how their actions affect others. To prepare for this conference, I stayed after school to attend a training. This training gave me tools necessary to delegate with confidence and answer questions appropriately. Overall, this project went very well. The group that I had was respectful and participated diligently. We made great progress on our own views while discussing racial issues of the past. Both students and teachers benefited from this project; the knowledge gained on microaggressions and other small signs of racism can be used in and out of classrooms. I think having a longer period of time to share ideas would have improved the project. Occasionally we had to stop in-depth conversations to cover everything that was required. I had a great experience though, and I look forward to coming back next year!

Kate Holman

My project of reorganizing and transferring Mr. Ford's AP Econ website onto Moodle turned out very well. The project was rather time consuming due to all of the re-naming, combining, sequentializing, and other menial (seeming) tasks. For this reason, time management is a factor that could have been improved upon. However, each future student of Mr. Ford's AP Economics class has benefitted from a more organized, straightforward website set-up. Therefore, the project was well-worth it.

Isabelle Planck

For my lead I was able to organize a night of selling concessions at a Natick wrestling game to raise money for the French club. I am extremely proud of the money that we raised because we hope to use it to further the projects that we work on in French club and take the students out into the community to a restaurant or a movie. It was so nice to be able to support the languages through a sporting event and it really allowed me to see how well Natick functions when we work together and support each other. I really enjoyed working on this project.

Emma Foley

For my lead project, I helped to coach the Wilson Speech Team at their Monday afternoon meetings the weeks leading up to big tournaments. This involved watching the kids perform, then working with them one-on-one to give tips on how to improve their performance. I was a member of Wilson Speech from 6th to 8th grade, so it was great to be able to give back to the team that gave so much to me!

Zoe Barr

This past year, Zoe Barr served as the Social Action Vice President for the North American Federation of Temple Youth's Northeast Region. This means that Zoe was one of ten members of a board of seniors who oversaw events for all reform Jewish teens involved in their temples' youth programs. As Social Action Vice President, Zoe's job revolved around the social justice aspects of the movement. During numerous events over the course of the year, Zoe wrote and ran programs designed to educate and empower participants regarding various social justice issues. For example, during a five-day event in late August, Zoe ran a program that educated participants about gun violence in the United States and facilitated the students to write gun violence prevention pledges to be carried out in their communities. Throughout the year, Zoe also coordinated NFTY NE's social justice fundraising efforts, donating hundreds of dollars to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Elizabeth Bettuelli

I completed my lead project with Hayley Neugarten on 8 May 2016 at Elm Bank. Our project focused on cleaning up some of the areas at Elm Bank. We picked up trash and generally cleaned up some of the areas. We were mainly focused on working at the parking lots and surrounding woods, and at the river bank. Our work impacted the community of people who use Elm Bank for soccer, field hockey, walking/running, biking, etc. It also impacted the healthiness and beauty of the area. We had a few other National Honors Society members help us, but it would have been more beneficial if we had a few more. It was extremely rewarding to see our results, since the areas we cleaned were quite filthy before we started. It was also satisfying to be noticed and thanked by a group of adults playing ultimate frisbee on one of the fields.

Chloe Felopulos

My National Honor Society project was part of my service trip in Guatemala where I held a leadership position working with a group of kids and planning crafts and activities for us to do with them. I also helped organize a pen pal activity between the kids from Guatemala and the kids from TCC, the Church I went to Guatemala through. I worked with a group of other high schoolers to build houses and paint a church within a community. Overall my trip to Guatemala provided many leadership opportunities for me and taught me a lot about what community service is all about.

Nicole Dua

For my lead, I tutored a sophomore girl in her geometry and chemistry class. I met with her twice a week for around two hours each and helped her with her homework and studies. I edited her papers and also helped her review for upcoming tests and quizzes. Overall, I believe the tutoring was successful because her grade improved over the span of five weeks of tutoring and I hope she continues to do well in those classes for the rest of the year.

Alexia Neilan

Throughout the month of April, Alyssa Clune and I (with help from Allison Law) conducted a toiletries drive for the Natick Service Council. We set up donation boxes in several locations around Natick with signs suggesting what items people could donate. These items included, but were not limited to, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toilet paper, diapers, baby wipes, feminine hygiene products, shampoo, soap, razors, and shaving cream. We also stood outside of Roche Bros on May 14th from 1pm-5pm to collect monetary donations and more toiletries. We raised $213 (with which we bought more items to donate) and received many product donations. On May 17th, Alyssa and I brought the donations to the Natick Service Council, where they will be sorted and provided to Natick families in need via the Food Pantry.

Gabe Khoury

For my lead, I established a tutoring program for students who were looking to obtain their CompTIA A+ Certification. I co-lead this project with Craig Coco. Overall, the project had mixed results, although I am sure that we had a very positive impact through the program. Once we had started, we realized that much of the A+ class was completely uninterested in getting help. We quickly brainstormed how we could bring in as many people as possible and get them interested in passing the test in the coming months. We started an email list of the students that were interested, and emailed them multiple different times when we could come in to help. As a result, a group of students who would not have shown up were exposed and given several opportunities to study. As far as the actual lecturing time, Craig and I were able to create a plan that would keep the session engaging and interesting. In this regard, I believe that the project was a total success. Overall, I hope to see students continue this program in the future, as I believe that it will be extremely helpful for students to come.

Craig Coco

Gabriel Khoury and I lead a couple of students taking the A+ certification class in study sessions. We prepared materials for a review session and helped students think through the process of studying for the large certification test at the end of the year. We also went over important chapters that have helped us study for the test when we took it ourselves. Overall this project was a success and we were able to help students but it was not as successful as we would have liked as most students cannot take the certification test as it costs them too much.

Takehiro Sayama

Kindly requested by Patrick Conaway, I cleaned up the area near the plaza on the corner of Rt 135 and Mill St on April 27th. I picked up the trash left in the woods behind the building, as many items were thrown in the woods. The small trash, such as paper and bottles, were easy to clean up and throw away. Sadly, many large objects, such as trays, were also thrown in the woods as well. In the future, better preparation for such large objects should be taken into consideration. The best improvement for the lead project would be to organize it better and attract more volunteers to clean up an area.

Kelsey Walak

For my lead project I facilitated a group discussion about race. Three other group members and I went into Boston to the ADL youth congress and lead about thirty high school students though per-approved curriculum about racial bias. We also lead games that turned into discussion. I believe that the project was very successful. The discussion went very well because a lot of people participated. Each school that was represented in our group evaluated their communities and made possible plans to help stop racism. Hopefully these plans will make everyone's community better off.

Ryan Corkery

For my lead project, I Co-Lead with Billy Tinney at Tilly and Salvy’s Beacon Street Farm. We set up a donation area for cans (and money for cans) on 5/22/16 in order to donate to the Natick food pantry. Although the idea sounded very good, the time slot we were able to workout together didn’t seem very promising (Considering it was a very early Sunday morning that was a little rainy). However the community came through and we ended up raising quite a lot of money (Nearly 75$!) and far more cans. We then spent the money we raised on cans in Tillys, so that we were not only getting more food to give to the pantry, but also further supporting a local business. Overall, the Natick Food Pantry, those who use food from the Pantry, and Tillys greatly benefitted from this project.

Gina Grenga

For my lead project, I participated in the Relay for Life event and was team captain for the Sole Mates team at the high school track on May 21 and 22, 2016. I spent 18 hours at the event itself, walking and helping support survivors and people lost from cancer. I spent 2 hours at the team captains meeting, planning the day for my team. I spent 3 hours fundraising, I personally raised $100 and my team raised $715. I spent 2 hours recruiting team members and organizing campsite information, T-shirt orders, planning the fundraiser, organizing chaperone information and making sure my team filled out all of the necessary forms. By participating in the Relay for Life I was able to help support everyone who is effected by cancer, help raise awareness and learn even more about the American Cancer Society's mission.

Ethan Bo

For my senior lead project, I hosted a Freerice.com gathering. Freerice is a non-profit website that is owned by and supports the United Nations World Food Program. It is a trivia site based on multiple academic subjects, and each question answered correctly prompts the organization to donate 10 additional grains of rice to the needy, accumulating in a large sum when a gathering is held. Our group was made up of about 6-8 people, with some coming and going. At the end of the meeting, our scores were in the thousands, contributing a good amount in a fun way. The project was successful, and we believe that we have set an example of how to make fighting world hunger a social and invigorating experience.

Gavin Giorgio

My lead project took place on Friday 5/20/16 at the Natick Service council headquarters. For this project I wanted to give back to the NSC for all of the hard work they do helping Naticks less fortunate. My grandmother also helped me with this project after all the times she complained to me about how the workers do not take care of the building. Together we were able to weed, cut the grass, mulch the garden and tidy up any imperfections. The garden looks great and presentable to any visitors, and the head of the service council was very pleased with our work.

Rachael Podtburg

This year for National Honors Society, Jessica Pierce and I lead a team for the Natick, Framingham, Sherborne Relay for Life event. We lead a team together last year as well and we certainly fixed a lot of problems that we had last year for this Relay event. I am very proud of how much work my team did in order to raise money for the American Cancer Society. All together, my team surpassed our goal of $1,235 and raised $2,025 for cancer research. I really couldn't be more proud. Overall, the experience this year was much more organized than last year. Jessie and I did a really good job staying on top of forms that people are supposed to hand in and setting up who was bringing what items and what items needed to be brought to Relay. The only thing that I would change about the whole experience is to fundraise together as a team. I feel that individual fundraising is really effective, but group fundraising is just a great experience as a team and it allows people to know why you are participating in Relay for Life in the first place.

Matthew Carey

The bottle drive for the food pantry went very well. I collected many cans, and in the end raised 50 dollars for the Natick Food Pantry. The staff was very grateful, and it felt great to help out. Everything ran very smoothly, and I hope that people continue to do things like it in the future.

Aidan Doherty

For my lead I was the captain of a Relay For Life team with a total of nine members. Together, we raised almost $1,000 and had a really positive experience both raising money, and walking the track on Saturday. The reason that Relay For Life is so successful and that the American Cancer Society is able to raise so much money is because everyone feels the impact of cancer. Cancer affects millions of lives in the U.S. every year, and being able to contribute to finding a cure and helping those in need is extremely meaningful. Overall, I had an extremely positive and meaningful experience when captaining a team, and plan on continuing it in the years to come.

Noah Dixon

For my lead, I captained a team for the Relay For Life Cancer Walk in Natick. My responsibilities included attending captains meetings, distributing and recollecting waivers, and making sure everyone was accounted for at the event. The relay took place on May 22 at the Natick track and was a great success. Our team raised over $1000 dollars for the American Cancer Society and dedicated our walk to Jared Woo, an NHS freshman in remission from spinal cancer. He and thousands of others who suffer from cancer benefitted from the event because it raised awareness and money for research.

Allana Ricafort

For Relay for Life, Vivian Hsieh and I co-captained a team together. We created our Relay for Life Team back in September, and recruited our friends to participate with us. On May 21st, we participated in the Relay for Life event at the Natick High School. Our goal was to raise money for the event and also spread cancer awareness. Our team members worked hard to help us achieve that goal. On May 21st, the actual day of the event, my group and I walked the track in support of those who has suffered cancer. This was my second year participating in the event and would gladly participate again in the future.

Cam Hladick

For my lead project, I decided to do a clothing drive through the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation. I spent a surprisingly large amount of time creating flyers, handing out the fliers, organizing the clothes I got etc. At the end of the day, I was able to collect eight full bags of clothing for BBBS, which I was very pleased with. I would certainly say that this project was a success, I am so excited that eight full bags of clothes that were not being used are now being used by people who really need them. I am also happy that I completed this project on my own, as all of my previous projects have been with others. In my opinion this project was extremely rewarding to me and I was so happy to help provide a basic necessity to people in my area who need help.

Kyle Chamberlain

For my lead this year, I came up with a project called "LemonAID." Appearing at the striver's women's 5K and the relay for life, this stand sells lemon goods and lemonade in order to raise money for a good cause. At the striver's run, I raised money for Natick's embrace a family. At the relay for life, I raised money for the American Cancer society. I have raised over a total of $300 dollars this year, and I would love to raise even more next year!

Jess Zeliger

For my lead project, I donated my time to build and paint surfboards for the After Prom Party. Casey Smith and I spent a couple days after school working on cutting the shapes out of plywood, sanding them down, and painting them. The After Prom Committee was very grateful, and Casey and I had a lot of fun working on the project.

For my lead, I helped a local casting company, Slate Casting, with their first open casting call. My job was to help set up and break down the event and also to check actors into the company's database. The project went really well! Over the course of the day, we checked in close to 500 people. Julie and Ashley, the directors, appreciated our help greatly. Everything went smoothly and the day was a lot of fun.

Dan Shaughnessy

My project was on the weekend of March 4-6. I was at the Prindle Pond Conference Center located in Charlton, Massachusetts. I was in charge of a small group of sophomores on a Church retreat in preparation for their upcoming confirmation. I lead them in discussions and helped them through a very important time in their life. In addition, I was held responsible for the safety and the actions of the members in my group. I also presented a paper on my own experience with God and the religion to the entire group. In order to prepare, I worked with my fellow leaders and my Church Youth Group Director. We discussed what makes a good leader, how to interact with the kids, and how to problem solve if anything came up. I was very happy with my group and was so proud of what they accomplished in the short few days we had together.

Katherine Dunlap

My lead for the 2016 school year was being a team captain for Relay for Life. I lead the team along with Libby Fennell. We raised close to $1000 as a team and I personally raised $285! The money we raised goes towards the American Cancer Society. Our project was able to benefit cancer patients as well as help conduct cancer research. Libby and I attended meetings prior to Relay, organized our team and chaperones, raised money, assured that all forms were completed, bought t-shirts, and made sure we had a large food supply to keep us full! Thankfully, everything was organized when Relay rolled around. We were able to be stress free because we had everything already set up. Although we wished for a sunnier day, the weather held out and didn't rain!! The day was very fun with lots of people to hang out with. Our money goes towards a very good cause, which made us feel very proud of all our hard work we put in to get us there. I can't wait until Relay next year!

Elizabeth Fennell

For my lead project, I was a captain of my Relay For Life team. As captain, I attended meetings, kept track of important announcements, and gathered materials for my team. As a team we raised about $1,000 for the American Cancer Society and walked the Natick High School track to show our support. I am proud of my team and the work that we put into this event to help people struggling with cancer around the world. I think the event was very successful and I am looking forward to participating in it again next year.

Emily Wickles

For my lead I gathered a group of kids to volunteer at Cradles for Crayons. Cradles to Crayons is an organization that creates care packages for families and children in need in Boston. They help to supply materials to families ages 0 - 12. In order to raise awareness about this volunteer opportunity, I talked to multiple students, gathering a group from both mine and my brother's school. While volunteering we were assigned to sizing, which means we sorted clothing into correct sizing bins. The sizes ranged from 2 months old to 14/16. The clothes were then bagged and brought to outfits. In outfits, the clothing is sorted again for care packages. Overall, my group helped over fifty children and I was proud to see what we accomplished. After working, I also felt a greater appreciation for everything I have, such as my family and friends. I loved working at Cradles to Crayons and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun volunteer opportunity.

John Drew

The project I lead was called The Outreach Program for Soccer (TOPSoccer). The goal of the program is to meet the needs of young athletes that have physical/intellectual disabilities. There are two types of volunteers, buddies and core volunteers. I am a core volunteer along with three other people. We match each athlete with a buddy who matches his or her learning style and plan/run each session. I oversee the buddies and give them advice when they seem to need it because I have been helping with the program for four seasons. I know every athlete at the program by name and enjoy seeing their faces and saying hi every week. TOPSoccer meets Fridays from 4:00-5:30 at the Cole Center in Natick with 15 minutes of set up time and the athletes arriving at 4:15. The first session of the season was April 15 and the last session is on June 6. When I first get to a session, I help the other core volunteers set up the cones and goals for each station we have. I then walk around and check in with the athletes when they start to arrive asking them questions about their week and their plans for the weekend. My favorite part of each session is towards the end where I get to coach a team in our ending game. I asked each player what they want the team name to be and I combine all their suggestions into an elongated team name that makes all the players laugh. The impact of my work not only extends to the athletes of the program but also volunteers who have made connections with their athletes to the extent where some volunteers have had “play dates” with their buddies. I recruited some teammates from my high school soccer team to help me with the program along with my brother who is in eighth grade.

Zach Geller

On March 26, 2016, Mark O'Connor and I worked together to rake leaves for an elderly Natick resident who I contacted through the Senior Center. The project went very well overall. Mark and I spent about two hours raking leaves in the yard. The only thing that would have improved upon this project was if we had one or two more people to expedite the project. Looking at the project as a whole, it was very successful and left the senior citizen happy with how neat her yard looked.

Kurt Borgman

My lead project this year was being the head coach of my brothers hockey team. This went great! Our team finished in 1st place, won a cape cod tournament, and sadly came to an end in the playoffs. I went to every practice and brought what I knew from the high school team to the comets team. Nothing could have gone any better because this has been done for so many years and the Natick comets is a great program. I really enjoyed volunteering my time and would do it again in a heartbeat. I look forward to coaching when I get out of college. This was an awesome experience!

Lauren Musshorn

On May 15th, 2016, I organized a cleanup of Johnson Elementary School. Everything went really well. We had talked to the school before hand and they were able to buy use mulch from the town and get us tools. We were able to clean up the entire back hill and plant a bunch of flowers in the front. I chose Johnson because I went there and I currently work their at their ASAP program. We were able to make a big impact in their community. We worked from 10:30 - 3:00 and were able to make a large amount of progress on the School. If I was to plan it again, I would change the weekend we did it. It was the sunday after prom so a lot of people who said they would come didn’t end up coming. Also we were very tired while we were working. I would also have extended the invite to help to more people, because we could have gotten so much more work done if more people had showed up.

On May 21 and 22nd 2016, I led a relay team with two other friends. There were 7 people on our team and together we raised over a $1000 toward cancer research. We were able to organize people so that we were able to walk all night for this cause. I was able to rally the parents of our teammates as well around the cause. I sent out emails to all of the team and their parents to send out information. This helped significantly, having the parents on board. We were able to set up chaperones easily and get any supplies we needed. I think if I could have done this over again I would have brought more sunscreen and would have collected all of the forms for my team mates before going to the event. That way I could make sure everyone got their forms signed and no one would be running around afterwards.

Peter Zogby

My relay team, Team John, ended up doing so much better than I had imagined. We raised over $1,800, which is almost twice what we raised last year, with 3 fewer team members. We hit our fundraising goal by 180%, and I can't wait to see how well we'll do next year. We continued walking until around 4am, longer than most other teams had kept walking. The event itself raised over $130,000 for the American Cancer Society, which is really amazing. My one change for next year will be to bring more coffee!

Amy Azaria

At the end of March, I organized a holiday carnival for Temple Israel of Natick. The Carnival includes a raffle and silent auction for adults and a moon bounce and various game booths for kids. In addition, there is a concession stand with popcorn, cotton candy, and other snacks. This year, the carnival raised over $1,000 for charity.

Margaret Downing

On May 21-22 at the Relay for Life, my team and I walked the Natick High School track for 18 hours to raise awareness and money for the American Cancer Society. Beforehand, we raised over $1000 with three fundraisers. Each fundraiser aimed to raise money, awareness, and moral. We got the opportunity to meet many inspiration cancer survivors and caretakers who inspired us to keep walking and to keep fundraising. Although some of our fundraisers could have hd more publicity and promotion on our part, they were still successful overall. The event itself was very inspiring to my team and I. We were surrounded by some of the strongest people I have ever met, which helped us to feel like our efforts really affected someone and made us want to go back again next year!

Ian O'Neil

For my lead project I planted tomatoes at A Place to Turn. Overall the project when pretty well. We planted the tomatoes in a special box that allows the plants to go multiple days without someone having to water them. We also made the cage that allows the plants to go upward. The cage is made from wire and shaped into a cylinder. I will be taking care of the plants over the next few months before going away to school.

Abbie Sookdeo

For my lead, I was the team captain of a Relay For Life Team, Happy Feet. I did my project at the Natick High School Field on May 21st-22nd. I was responsible for organizing the Team Happy Feet and ensuring that people tried to raise money and collect all the forms that were needed. Also, I had to make sure to delegate who was bring what to Relay For Life. My work will affect people suffering from cancer because the money raised at Relay goes to cancer research and helps people with cancer treatment.

Sean Freitas

For my lead project I coached a 7th and 8th grade boys recreational basketball team. I was responsible for preparing for and conducting one practice and one game each week from November 30th to February 13th. The season went really well. I felt that the kids were really able to improve over the course of the winter and it was great to be able to assist them along the way. I feel that the project went very smoothly and I believe the kids benefited greatly.

Theresa Morley-Mclaughlin

For this project, I helped Good Shepherd Parish to run a retreat from Friday, March 4th, to Sunday, March 6th. The retreat took place at the Prindle Pond Conference Center in Charlton, MA. The retreat was designed to help sophomores prepare to receive their Confirmation. I was responsible for running small group discussions and organizing various activities. While leading the small groups, I helped to ensure participation from everyone and steer the topic of discussion in a thoughtful and productive direction. The project went very well. The sophomores had a good time and were successfully able to reflect on their lives and decisions.

Bojun Yang

For my lead project, I led a team to fundraise money for homelessness by asking for donations from neighbors, friends, family and such. The organization is called Walk Away Homelessness. We spent hours asking fundraising and onApril 9th, we attended the walk away homelessness walk around Natick. The walk began with recognition for the homelessness and about a 45 minute to an hour long walk around Natick. This fundraiser is to support homeless families with children by providing safe transitional shelter, meals, and supportive case management as these families seek permanent housing. I recruited my cross country teammates and friends to support this cause because we are a running sport. The project was successful because we exceeded the goal for the fundraiser.

Joyce Libbin

I participated and led the homerun derby on May 21 st at the Natick High School Softball field. Prior to the event, I helped organize the teams that would participate, volunteers that would walk around and help out, and decorations. I also contributed to fundraising by spreading the word to my friends and putting in a donation myself and from my family. At the event, I participated with my team and also helped guide people on which field they should be playing or volunteering at. I came early to the event and helped in setting up the check in table, the streamers, balloons, fundraising box and other decorations for the field. In the end, we raised more than 2,000 dollars for the Heffler family. Also, Connor could not be there because he was put back into the hospital a couple of days before the event. However, we face timed him and his voice came on over the loudspeaker at the field and he said, “Now I know I am not in this fight alone. Thank you so much everyone!” This was an incredible event and I hope to continue it next year and make it grow even bigger.

Alyssa Clune

For my lead, Lexi Neilan and I decided we wanted to help the Natick Service Council and food pantry. When planning our project, we were told that the pantry always received food donations, but they seldom received essential toiletry items such as toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, and dental care. Upon hearing this, we decided to collect toiletries through donation boxes at various Natick locations, along with a 4 hour drive at Roche Bros. It was a very successful project; we received over 20 bags of toiletries and over $200 in monetary donations, which we used to buy even more items. Later that week, we brought the donations to the Natick Service Council, where they will be put to good use, distributed to people in need.

William Tinney

Ryan Corkery and I lead a local food drive at Tilly and Salvy’s Bacon Street Farm on 5/22/16.. We set up a table with a sign asking people to buy an extra can or two while they were in the store. We also accepted any cash donations from customers as well, raising close to $75. Using this money we then went into the store ourselves and bought as many cans as possible. This way we supported the local business even further.We worked for two hours, in the early morning, with slight showers. Given the conditions we were very pleased with the outcome of the drive, collecting well over 100 cans (our starting goal). All of our proceeds were given to the Natick Food Pantry as a large sum donation.

Vivian Hsieh

On May 21st, I participated in Natick/Framingham/Sherborn Relay for Life. It was my second time participating but first time co-leading a team, so the experience was slightly different from the previous time. My co-leader and I had to distribute the task evenly, and we had to contact and provide some information to our team members in advance so the event could go smoothly. On the day, we came in early and had everything set up and ready to go. We each took turn to walk, symbolizing that we support the family members and patients of cancer and that cancer is a thing that exists all the time but we can conquer it.

Pearl Dalla

My lead project was with NHS Connections, under the high school's ACCESS program working with special needs student within the school. I attended every CDS block when I was free from AP CDS blocks and other obligations. The activities would be held in the third-floor ACCESS room on the opposite side of the main stairs from Ms. Daley's classroom. Through the program I would work to build a better Natick community by working with the special needs students and being inclusive often by organizing activities and playing games with them. This work had an impact on all those in Natick high because it built a better, more understanding school community. I would recruit anyone I was friends with who showed an interest and could be sociable and keep the kids company.

Elizabeth Cusack

For my national honor society lead I held a bake sale at Roche Brothers in order to raise money for a local family needing a service dog. This family has two children with Autism so I felt compelled to help them with their financial struggles. Service dogs are very pricey, often up to $7,000. We were able to raise close to $500 with our bake sale. We sold cupcakes, brownies, cookies and rice crispy treats at a stand outside of Roche Brothers. Having a friend with Autism I was so excited to work with the Autism Alliance to help this family.

Emily Moncata

This year for my lead project I led a clean up of the trails at Elm Bank. My Mom and I walk my dogs there a lot, and I began to notice how many bags, empty water bottles, and plastic wrappers were on the ground. I decided that a group of about 5 students should pick up the trash to help not only the hikers and the dogs, but the native wildlife there as well. On a Thursday afternoon, we walked on the trails and ended up collecting almost one large trash bag. It's a great feeling knowing we left one of our parks a little bit cleaner!

Amanda Cho

On May 21st through the 22nd I was a co-captain for Relay for Life. Relay for Life is a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. Teams raise money and pledge to walk around the track for the entirety of the event (17 hours). My team, One Step at a Time, raised $1,840, while I personally raised $395. In preparation for the event I attended three meetings to help get my team organized and to learn more about the way the event was running this year. I also emailed family members and posted on my social media to raise awareness for the cause and ask for donations. I also emailed the parents of my teammates to help coordinate chaperones because teams with members under the age of 18 have to have a chaperone at all times. I also collected participation and chaperone forms from my teammates and their parents by the deadline, which was really handy because we did not have to stress about forms on the day of the event. Overall, the event went really well and my team and I loved participating in the event, while raising money for a great cause that is near dear to our hearts.

Luke Vrotsos

On May 27th, along with Sam Cohen and Albert Gerovitch, I cleaned up the Timothy Coolidge woods across from the senior lot at Natick High. We walked the trails in the woods and picked up broken glass beer bottles, styrofoam cups, plastic bags, plastic bottles, and other pieces of trash. Since many people walk in the woods both by themselves and with their dogs, this project will help make a more enjoyable nature experience for community members. One way the project could have gone better is if we had brought larger bags to store trash in, because the fairly small bags we brought only allowed us to pick up a limited amount of trash.

Rebecca Jacobs

My project was located at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley on March 5, 2016. To begin, I met, with three other peers and my advisor, with 6 teens and 2 advisors from the Roxbury Presbyterian Church. We talked with them about what their experience with gun violence has been and they did the same. Also, we asked if they had any requests for the event on gun violence prevention. They helped us realize that there needed to be a lighter aspect to the event because it is such a heavy subject matter that it we needed to do something with the topic in a strategic and effective way. I had an impact on the members of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church and everyone who saw my PSA video, which I created at the event with the attendees. We also had an impact on the sheltered kids from the suburbs who did not know the extent of people who were affected by gun violence. We recruited so many people to help with this project. We got Jonah Pesner, the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, to come speak about what we were doing. It was incredible and afterwards I posted my PSA video, which was a program at the event, and my peer wrote an amazing blog post.

Josh Franklin

My project was located at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley on March 5, 2016. To begin, I met, with three other peers and my advisor, with 6 teens and 2 advisors from the Roxbury Presbyterian Church. We talked with them about what their experience with gun violence has been and they did the same. Also, we asked if they had any requests for the event on gun violence prevention. They helped us realize that there needed to be a lighter aspect to the event because it is such a heavy subject matter that it we needed to do something with the topic in a strategic and effective way. I had an impact on the members of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church and everyone who saw my PSA video, which I created at the event with the attendees. We also had an impact on the sheltered kids from the suburbs who did not know the extent of people who were affected by gun violence. We recruited so many people to help with this project. We got Jonah Pesner, the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, to come speak about what we were doing. It was incredible and afterwards I posted my PSA video, which was a program at the event, and my peer wrote an amazing blog post.

Katrina Sipin

For my lead project, I organized a yard and barn cleanup at my friend’s house for her mom. Sophia Gutierréz and Mia Barr assisted me in cleaning. I brought supplies to help and dictated to them what to do. At the beginning of the project, we took out the rug and shook it out. We also took out some furniture from the barn to be put outside like chairs, tables, and umbrellas. Lastly, we all swept and vacuumed the whole barn. The project overall went very well and we got some great feedback from Mrs. Reed. We tried our best to make sure that the barn looked as clean and organized as possible. Our work had an impact on Mrs. Reed who was happy with how her barn and yard turned out. We all had so much fun and we are planning on helping her out again over the summer.

Katie Carew

For the lead project I worked on, Katie Tumang and I worked together to complete the project. The project was conducted on a Saturday in May. We decided to make boxes to send over seas to soldiers who could use care packages. We worked with my friends mom, Mrs. Eaton, who is a girl scout leader. She was able to give us extra cookies that we could put in the boxes. Mrs. Eaton took us shopping for supplies as well as letting us use her home as the location to complete the project. We received help with the boxes from Mrs. Eaton's two children. It may be nice if we get more people involved in this project if we were to do this in the future. I think overall we worked really hard and were able to have a nice end result for the boxes.

Kiara Killelea

For my lead project I participated in organizing a Chick-fil-a fundraiser. This fundraiser benefited the boys and girls volleyball program. Originally the event was suppose to be the boys and girls together but due to the playoff schedule of the boys, I had to take over and be the representative at the event. My job was to spread the word to the others about the event and get people to come and mention "Natick Volleyball" when they bought their food. I was in charge of having other members of the team present with me during the event. The event was not as successful as planned but it was a good learning experience in learning to take control of a situation. Better communication with the restaurant would have helped in making the event more successful.

Olivia Walz

For my lead, I worked with Rachel Takasaki to organize a drive and backpack packing even for the Pieces of Home backpack project. This nonprofit organization (www.piecesofhome.org) gives backpacks to kids who are being temporarily placed into DSS care. These kids have nothing with them and are not allowed to go home and get anything. The backpacks give them practical things and things that they can call their own. For our lead, Rachel and I organized a book drive. We used the books we collected to put in backpacks that we packed at a packing event. This event went very well, as we packed over 40 bags. Next year, we plan to make the event bigger and hopefully pack more bags than we did this year.

Victoria Kennedy

For my lead project, I organized a team to raise money and participate in Family Promise's MetroWest annual 5k walk. Family Promise is a cooperative, interfaith organization that supports homeless families and provides them with meals, shelter, and guidance with financial decisions. The 5k walk is known to help walk away homelessness. My team was called "Homeless But Not Helpless." Our goal was to raise $350 to help with transportation costs for parents to go to work. We held a bake sale and a yard sale and we raised our goal of $350. Working on this project gave me more appreciation for the opportunities I have in life!

Christina Mangano

For my lead project, while on a missions trip in Guatemala, I led a pen pal project between young kids from my church and a school that my team painted in Qixiya. I prepared the photos and format, assisted the kids in filling out the letters for each other, and translated from English to Spanish so the kids could understand and enjoy each other's responses. On my trip, my team and I also painted a school, built a house, led activities with the kids at the school, and worked in a clinic for a day. Overall it was a very positive experience, and my project and my team were very successful.

Tara Bharadwaj

I spent January to March of 2016 volunteering at the Sunday school I graduated from, Shishu Bharati. I spent 2 hours per week, working with kindergarteners. I taught them to identify Indian fruits and vegetables. My students also mastered India's National Anthem. I wish that I had recruited a few friends to help me out, because managing a classroom full of kindergarteners by myself was very difficult!

Brianna Thornhill

For my lead project I helped run a dinner and bake sale to raise scholarship money for kids. They are trying to fund a volunteer trip for the summer and the money raised will help some of the kids pay for that trip. I was responsible for organizing the menu and finding other volunteers to help prepare some of the items. The event went very well and it was nice to see how excited the kids were.

Samantha Barth

Every week, I volunteered at the religious school at Temple Israel of Natick. I mainly worked in the second grade classroom, where I read stories, lead small-group activities, and offered extra support to individual students. I also planned a lesson with the help of one of the staff members, and I executed it the next week. The lesson involved a review of commonly-missed Hebrew letters. I think it went pretty well and the students seemed to like it; however, I did not have enough time for every activity. The lead teacher benefitted from this project because I alleviated some of her work load, and the students benefitted because I was a positive teenage role model and I helped them learn how to read in Hebrew. I loved volunteering at the Hebrew school because I built relationships with the students, I was able to use my Jewish education to help others, and I felt more connected to my synagogue community.

Natalie Soens

For my lead this year, I was a co-captain of a relay for life team: the CUREsaders. I was co-captains with Allie Pfahler. In preparation for the event I had to attend captains meetings, get all of the correct forms filled out, make sure we had people supplying the necessary food and supplies, and organize chaperone hours. During relay I had to, make sure that everyone who had earned their shirts received them, that the community service forms got signed, that people were walking, and that the chaperones came when they were supposed to. I also came early before relay started to help set up and I stayed until the very end to help take everything down. I think that the lead went well, and there were not really any problems during relay. Something I could have done better would have been to make sure everyone was bring an equal amount of food and supplies, instead of having just a couple of people carry the whole team. Ideally, I also would have had some sort of fundraiser like a bake sale or yard sale to help raise money for the members on the team who had a hard time raising it themselves. I had a lot of fun at relay and I definitely will want to lead my team again next year.

Sophia Gutierrez

I was one of the captains for my Relay for Life team, called Holy Walkamole. As the captain I helped gather a team together and send out forms for team members to fill out in order to participate. It was mandatory for team captains to attend captains meetings at the American Cancer Society building in Framingham. Here, we received all the information we needed to know to have a successful team. It was my job to coordinate hours for parents to chaperone during the event, as well as remind our team to raise money. As a team we raised around $1,715, which was well over our team goal. All of this money went to cancer research. These profits not only benefited cancer research, but the families, friends, caregivers, survivors and patients. Other jobs, as captains, were to coordinate what food to bring to the event, tents and other items. The actual event took place on May 21-22 for a total of 18 hours. We walked around the track many times, along with playing spikeball and soccer on the field. Additionally, our team had on site fundraiser called LemonAid, in which we sold lemon flavored food and the profits went to the cause also. The event could not have gone better. Everyone had a great time throughout the long, but important event.

Madi Mastrianni

My national honor lead was the Homeruns for Heffler fundraiser that was run by the Natick High softball team. I along with the other team captain helped our coaches plan this event. We scheduled the times everyone would hit, scheduled the MC, decorated the field, and put up flyers around the town for people to see. Our goal for the event was to try and raise $500 for Connor and his family but we ended up making close too $2,000. It was a great success and we were even able to facetime with Connor. Connor was recently put back into the hospital so he was unable to come, but we were able to facetime with him and hear him over the speakers at the field. It was a great event for an even better cause and I am extremely happy that I was able to be a part of it!

Rachel Takasaki

I did my lead project with Olivia Walz, and we organized a book drive for the Pieces of Home backpack project, and then on Thursday, May 26th we packed backpacks after school. Pieces of Home is a nonprofit organization that provides backpacks filled with supplies for children who are being brought into temporary foster care. We collected children's books in the lobby over the course of the month, so by the 26th we had the supplies to fill the backpacks. Then we were able to pack about 40 backpacks with the help of a couple other volunteers, and it went really well! Our work will help the children going into DSS care who get the backpacks because then they will have some belongings of their own to take with them.

Haley Winn

This year, for my lead project I organized a school supply drive with a fellow classmate to donate supplies to local schools in need. To do this, we collected school supplies in various locations such as at the school and in stores in order to collect as many school supplies as possible. This includes pencils, notebooks, calculators, colored pencils, etc. These school supplies help students in need have to what they need in order to have a sufficient education and aid in guiding their futures.

James Prim

For my National Honors Society lead project, I organized a group of people to help out at the Natick Service Council. First, I went into the Natick Service Council and scheduled a day to come in to help out. Then, I printed and filled out their volunteer form, and asked some of my friends to do the same. The day of our service, we went in and asked how we could help. For the two hours we were there, we were assigned multiple tasks. The first task we had was to put together healthy lunch bags for children in Natick. After we finished that, we looked through the donated food and marked every donation that was not expired while putting the expired goods in a separate pile. Lastly, we drove the donated bread that was expired to the Natick Organic Farm so they could be fed to the pigs. Overall, my friends and I had an enjoyable time when helping a great organization that benefits those in need in our community.

Samuel Stowe

For my lead project I was captain of a Relay for Life team during the Natick Relay for Life on May 21 and 22. The project went well, and my team raised nearly $400. I organized the team and turned in everyone's forms. I attended captain meetings weeks before the event to organize my team. We walked all day and the relay went off without a hitch. The team was very successful and the relay as a whole raised over $100,000 for cancer research.

Jacki Wright

Throughout April and May, I led a project with Dylan LaVallee making No-sew blankets. The blankest were made for a domestic abuse shelter that serves children and young teens. We worked after school on Thursdays, eventually expanding to Mondays as well, working in both the library and Ms. Ross' room. Many students, both upper and under classmen, came to volunteer their time cutting, pinning, and tying fabric. We were able to make a total of 8 blankets, thanks to the fabric that was donated to us.

Molly Raddant

I chose to mentor the NHS Concert Choir for the third quarter of the school year. This is a beginner’s ensemble for younger voices, which I was a part of during my freshman year. For my project, I attended class twice to three times per week. I was able to lead vocal warm-ups, help singers improve their sight-reading skills, provide advice, and set an example as I learned music with the members of the choir. Concert Choir finished the quarter by earning a silver medal at the MICCA choral festival, an extremely large achievement for the ensemble. I am pleased that I could help the singers reach their goal, and encourage them to rise in the ranks of the choral program throughout their time in high school.

Rafey Mueller

Over the course of a week, we helped out my elderly neighbor, Florence, with some work around her home. We helped to clear out her garage, including donating used items to the less fortunate and used medical equipment to local hospitals to help those in need. I really enjoyed working as a group, and it felt great to help out someone who I’ve known for a very long time. I loved interacting with Florence and I value this type of work with others. Florence even told us stories about her home in New Hampshire, which is another component I admire about working with people; I love to hear about their stories and experiences. I believe this type of work aligns with my character and this project was very meaningful to me and to the group.

Tatiana Slotnick

I worked to create a book drive through the school. It lasted the month of May, and I collected books to donate to Discover Books, an organization that takes used or new books and gives them to libraries and schools in need. I made a donation bin to be put in the library, and created an announcement to remind kids to bring in books. My work had an impact on the schools and libraries my books will go to. People donated a wide variety of books, ones that may interest and inspire kids. I hope to run the book drive next year, and to go in more prepared to get the word out to donate!

Halle Singer

For my lead project, I chose to co-lead a Relay for Life team for the 2016 Relay For Life 24 hour event. My co-captain, Anna, and I worked together to organize fundraisers for our team and kept everyone up to date about preparation for the event. As a team, we were able to raise over $1,1000 which contributed to the over $120,000 that was raised by all the teams. On the day of the event, we spent our time walking and participating in many events. I had so much fun leading my own team and it felt really great to know that we helped the American Cancer Society and their fight against cancer!

Hayley Neugarten

For my lead project, Elizabeth Bettuelli and I organized a cleanup at Elm Bank on May 8th, 2016. During our project we focused on certain areas at Elm Bank. We carried around trash bags and filled it with trash we found on the ground. Our work had an impact on the community especially the people who use Elm Bank for their leisure. A few other members of National Honors Society helped us. We filled two huge black trash bags with all the liter we found. It felt very good that we made a difference in the community.

Murphy Kenny

Izzy De Palo Garcia Perez and I helped organize the Team Danny and Friends Annual Fundraiser for our co-lead project. We helped to organize the event, and Izzy made the website to advertise. We had assistance from several other friends on the day of the event to help set up. During the event, we did jobs such as admission to the event, involving collecting donations and handing out necklaces. The fundraiser collected donations to the National MS Society, which does research on multiple sclerosis and provides assistance to people suffering from it. This was a great project experience as we got to work with friends for a cause we care about.​

Margaret Axford

For my lead project I was a volunteer at the Special Olympics on June 7th at the Natick High School track. I was the leader of the Olympic Town craft station, this station was a place for the athletes to take a break and be artistic. The station had temporary tattoos, coloring, bubbles, pipe cleaners, and beading. As the leader of the station I helped the volunteers find jobs to do, kept the station clean, and made sure the station was running smoothly. My work at the Special Olympics aided the special needs athletes to have a relaxing and fun day. My work also helped the parents and caretakers of the special needs athletes, because it gave them a well needed break. My experience at the Special Olympics was so wonderful that I plan on participating again next year.

Emily Powsner

I did my lead at the annual Special Olympics on the Natick High School track/football field on June 7, 2016. Taking on a lead role, I led one of the events, the standing long jump. I would make sure that the kids would get called up in their proper heats and that they would all have fun an get a medal. Not only was I in charge of moving the kids through the event, but I was also in charge of letting the other volunteers at the station know what to do. In addition, I communicated with other events, adults running the entire event, and other leaders. Overall, it was a successful event and the kids ended up having a lot of fun.