Boys’ track uses day off to volunteer

By Krzys Chwala (@KrzysChwala)
On Sept. 23, Prospect had a non-attendance day. However boys’ track and field took the day off as an opportunity to give back to the community.
At 8:30 a.m., they arrived at Fairview Elementary School and proceeded to separate and join various classes. Some athletes joined the gym classes and played soccer with the students and taught them some basic exercises. Others helped in science experiments where the students measured the reaction of Alka-Seltzers and water. Yet others led story-time or helped with students’ writing journals.
According to coach Frank Mirandola, the team did the same thing last year at Westbrook Elementary School and received great feedback, so they decided to repeat the occurrence this year at Fairview while the girls’ team went to Westbrook.
“The kids absolutely loved it [last year,]” Mirandola said. “It was just an opportunity for us to get out there and for us to do different things. I realized how much kids just loved helping out at the elementary schools, so I thought, ‘Let’s do it again!’”

In preparation for the event, Mirandola sent an email out to his athletes, and they were excited to help.
“It was not hard to find people,” Mirandola said. “I actually had to turn people away because we just can’t have too many people wandering the school.”
Sophomore Michael Cavanagh’s favorite part of the day was being able to help his second grade students. He spent the day cutting out letters for a sign and reading a book, “Quack,” to the class.
Cavanagh enjoyed the experience because he was able to take on a different role than usual: as the teacher, not the student.
“It was fun to experience elementary school from a different perspective,” Cavanagh said. “It was a lot different just being in authority instead of being forced around [as a student.]”