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The Winchendon School

The best college prep school for students with significant unrealized potential

Service Learning

A Taste of Winchendon: A Service Learning Community Story

A service-learning program is more than putting in the hours for a volunteer project in order to graduate. Service-learning means students explore the root causes and devise possible solutions for subjects such as poverty, pollution, conflict, etc., difficult subjects with long-term needs.

At The Winchendon School, our service-learning program provides leadership opportunities. These “Service Learning Leaders” are seniors and juniors and some sophomores with a deep interest in service. Their interest is supported by classwork in leadership and learning. This year, the service-learning leaders either worked together and led our DEIJ Week or collaborated with HEAL Winchendon and the local Youth ChangeMakers organization to produce the 2022 Taste of Winchendon townwide festival.

From estimating costs to applying for grants, to creating a budget, to soliciting volunteers, each service-learning leader worked to create a festival where all are welcomed. The students had several goals which included being sure all residents could attend and enjoy food and activities regardless of socioeconomic status and the students wanted to be sure the local vendors all received compensation for their goods and services.

A Taste of Winchendon was born from The Winchendon School’s A Taste of Nations event usually held during DEIJ week. At A Taste of Nations, students were able to prepare authentic cultural food favorites and share them with their friends, classmates, teachers, and mentors. In that spirit, Taste of Winchendon will feature food from Greece, Egypt, and more.

Located on the lawn at the Beals Memorial Library, Taste of Winchendon is free and open to all. Local artisans will be there along with activities, face painting, games, a language exchange, and salsa dancing lessons.

Stop by!

Making Change: A Fulbright Scholar Story

By Chloe Frushell ’22

My sister, Sophie Frushell’17 BC ‘21 knew she would attend The Winchendon School. A family of Winchendon School “lifers” she may have followed in our older brothers’ and sisters’ footsteps, but she forged her own path. After graduating from Boston College, she was named a Fulbright Scholar, the first Winchendon School alumnus/a the School knows of to achieve the prestigious award.

Returning to TWS in 2020, Sophie was one of the founding members of WACA (Winchendon Alumni of Color Association), where I am now the Massachusetts campus representative. I traveled to sit down with Sophie in the Dominican Republic at the Dominican Republic Dream Project.

Currently, Dream Project is educating more than 8,000 children, youth, and young adults through 17 innovative programs. DREAM offers literacy, early childhood education, youth leadership, the Bachata Academy, and community programs to ensure that all children and youth within their partner communities never lack access to necessary resources.

Using her Fulbright Scholarship at the Dream Project in the Dominican Republic, Sophie has an interest in exploring identity as an essential component of youth development.

As a student at The Winchendon School, she didn’t see herself as either a changemaker or entrepreneur. She credits her interest in education and making a difference to the travel programs (through ColLAB) at The Winchendon School. Her advice to current students? Use this time to discover yourself.

“Take advantage of all the opportunities afforded to you. Don’t squander this time. I wouldn’t be here (in the DR) today if I didn’t have “Winch” introducing me to service-learning and I wouldn’t have learned I wanted to make a change in the world without the trips I went on through Winchendon.”

Sophie Frushell ’17
Sophie (second row) with students.

While her research evolved over time, the core question she came to study remains the same: What are the best methods for engaging youth in the Dominican Republic to think critically about their own identities, especially their racial and ethnic identities. How can these research findings regarding the inclusion of identity in youth development efforts support greater equality and peace throughout the country? 

Living in the DR was an adjustment for Sophie. From the language (she needed to learn the slang!) to just getting around, Sophie relied on Winchendon’s core values (Collaborative |  Courageous | Adaptable | Resourceful | Responsible | Resilient | Empathetic | Ethical).

Recently accepted to Harvard University for her graduate work, Sophie has plans for the future.

Overall,  the most rewarding part of being in the DR on the Fulbright Scholarship is seeing the idea she developed as a senior at Boston College come to life in country. 

“When I go back I want to take what I’ve learned here and apply it to teaching in the United States. It was Winchendon that pushed me to believe whatever my ideas are, they are valuable.”

Sophie

Community in Action Day: A Community Matters Story

The school year at the Winchendon School begins with building community, both on and off-campus. Boarding students spend the first weekend on-campus learning about their roommates, floormates, and where to find their laundry. During the second week of school, we kick off our service-learning projects by building bonds in our greater community. Today, students were in the field both in and out of Winchendon giving back to the community our school calls home.

Students were broken into groups by class theme. For example, first-year students are learning to make the progression from thinking about “me” to “we” and spent time harvesting vegetables for the Worcester Foodbank, while Sophomores were leading Local Change in groups as diverse as a buddy program with the local elementary school, food justice, economic justice, and Veterans Outreach.

Juniors broke into smaller groups and spread out to Winchendon, Fitchburg, and Leominster/Gardner to learn and participate in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice topics in housing, food justice, and public assistance at Our Father’s House in Fitchburg, Three Pyramids in Winchendon, and the Spanish American Center.

Seniors and PGs got their hands busy in Habitat for Humanity projects, picnic table rehabilitation, creating a nature story walk for families, and beautification projects around Winchendon.

We thank Elliot Harvey for these photos of students walking into town for their day of service. Elliot, the School’s photographer, runs Winchtagram, one of the best social media pages on social media – check it out!

A Lesson in American Civics

Brad Bigelow, TWS ’21 stood in New England Sports Center in Marlborough, MA where he was set to begin filming an interview with new Director of TWS Hockey Development and Head Girls Hockey Coach, Jeff Pellegrini and three Winchendon players, and checked his email. The summer marketing intern looked up and nonchalantly said, “Oh, I got a 5 on my AP Government and Politics exam.”

The College Board AP Exam scores became available on Wednesday, July 21st, and Brad, just like the other 261,000 students who took the US Government and Politics exam received his score by email.

“Doc (Dr. Jason Friedman) made sure we were ready.”

Brad Bigelow ’21

At The Winchendon School, Advanced Placement (AP) course work begins over the summer. While students start to build out a college application starting their first year with ColLABs, service-learning, and internships, all of which set them apart in the hyper-competitive college application process, some students challenge themselves with college-level course work and take one or more AP courses. The Winchendon School’s AP score distribution was almost double the national average of 11% for students taking the AP Government and Politics exam. At Winchendon, 20% of the students received a score of 5 out of a possible 5.

“I like to put my students in a position to succeed.”

Dr. Jason Friedman

Throughout his four years at Winchendon, Brad demonstrated a deep understanding and appreciation of American civics; he placed wreaths in the Massachusetts Veterans’ Cemetery, worked as a service-learning leader for Veterans Outreach, and earned recognition from the School with the John S. Delaney Award which “Recognizes a student who has passion for civics, citizenship, and the perpetuation of democracy.”

Wreaths-across-America Student placing wreath in Massachusetts Veterans' Cemetery

Brad, who will be attending American University as an International Relations major, hopes to work for the State Department or Foreign Service.

A Fashion Show, Living on $2 a Day, and More

Written by Sydney Comire ’21

Races were run, eggs were tossed, soccer and tennis skills were put to the test, as students started off DEIJ week with the well loved tradition of The Cultural Olympics. Students topped off the Olympics with a photo booth “I am, but I am not”  activity where they were asked to write down something they identify with/as and something they break within the stereotypes surrounding said identifier. For example, “I am tall, but I still wear heels” or “I’m Italian, but I don’t like pizza”. 

On Tuesday, within dorm/day student groups, students attended DEIJ workshops set up and led by Student Service Learning Leaders. Workshops included, “Education and Equity”, “How Diverse is your Universe?”, and “Gender in Sports”. Within their individual workshops, students participated in activities to broaden their knowledge of Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, or Justice related topics. 

On Wednesday, students learned about why we shouldn’t use “The R Word”. 

On Thursday, students will participate in a joint Fashion and Talent Show to represent their Dorm/Day Student teams, something they’ve been working on throughout the week. Students will showcase their talents and will walk the catwalk in fashion that represents their culture. 

Could you imagine living on $2 a day or staying silent for a whole day? On Friday, students have the opportunity to try both those things when participating in The Day of Silence and $2 a Day activities, also led by student Service Learning Leaders. 

Overall exciting things are happening!

About DEIJ Week at The Winchendon School:

Why Are We Here and Who Are We Helping?

Inquiry drives a Winchendon School education. Our students dive deeply into learning how their service can provide meaningful change. Designed by students, the activities supporting the workshops during the week asked two essential questions: Why are we here? Who are we helping?

Taking Service Learning To New Levels: A Community Matters Story

Born in part from The Winchendon School’s service learning project “Food Justice,” HEAL Winchendon is a partnership made up of community residents, youth leaders and eight key organizations:  Heywood Hospital, Community Health Network for North Central MA, GFA Federal Credit Union, Growing Places, The Winchendon School, Three Pyramids, the Town of Winchendon, and Winchendon Community Action Council.

Several Winchendon School service-learning groups have integrated into HEAL Winchendon. They strive to provide access to healthy food, economic empowerment, and social inclusion throughout Winchendon. 

An articulated service-learning program goes beyond completing community service requirements for graduation. It’s the difference between learning to fix the root cause of issues rather than volunteering for a cause. While volunteerism is a vital role and volunteers may be needed for a service-learning project – volunteerism doesn’t change root causes. 

HEAL Winchendon challenges existing inequalities of wealth and power to reduce poverty for families and the Town of Winchendon as a whole.

Without an in-town grocery store, HEAL Winchendon started a local produce project. The local produce project strives to provide local produce through meal kits and community gardens. In addition, a mobile market will serve as a farmers market in the summer and a produce delivery service in the winter.

HEAL Winchendon offers financial coaching to residents to gain the skills of managing financial resources, building credit, and having access to affordable financial products. Partnering with small businesses, another mission is to encourage residents to buy local. Buying local helps promote patronage and awareness.

HEAL Winchendon provides circle groups, youth changemakers, and diversity and inclusion training for social inclusions throughout Winchendon. The circle groups will be hosted monthly for residents. Youth changemakers are composed of a group of diverse youth residents in Winchendon to help them create the community they wish to see in the future. We are excited to see members of The Winchendon School continue to make change through these projects. Finally, all HEAL Winchendon leaders attend diversity and inclusion training to ensure continued steps are taken to make the Town of Winchendon an inclusive community. 

Learn more about these amazing efforts at http://healwinchendon.org.

To take a deeper look at service-learning and how it provides leadership opportunities and more college possibilities, read Seven Tips to Find the Right High School Service Learning Program.

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