In early May, NYC Outward Bound schools across all five boroughs organized and took part in projects to give back to their local communities as part of “Better World Day.”
The annual day of service facilitated by EL Education included a Community Circle, during which Justin Torres, a 10th grader at Brooklyn Collaborative and a member of the EL Student Advisory Council, shared an original poem, “i’m a vaultboy.”
Tenth and 11th graders at Brooklyn Collaborative assembled and distributed food donations across Brooklyn. Students at Gaynor McCown chose to support the Forest Avenue Fridge — started by an alum of the school — to help combat food insecurity on the North Shore of Staten Island.
In Queens, students at MELS weeded and cleaned up the Metropolitan Avenue corridor by the school, while in Washington Heights, students at WHEELS brightened up their school yard by landscaping and painting an outdoor mural. Students at CSSJ extended their reach beyond the Bronx by helping to restore a wildflower meadow on Randall’s Island.
In southeast Queens, students at the Institute for Health Professions at Cambria Heights put their EMT and nursing training to good use by running health screenings at Mount Moriah A&M Church and leading health workshops for neighboring elementary schoolers.
Launch 6th graders and their families spent the day cleaning up the Jamaica Bay and participating in a day of imagining a transformational campus for the growing school at Floyd Bennett Field. Several community partners and elected officials attended, and the event was covered by many local media outlets and organizations:
