By Anupama Balasubramanian
Staff Writer
The WA Pride club, which matches students with local community service events, is not yet very well known, particularly after a recent change in advisors, but its members and advisors aim to change that.
Their goal at this point is to expand connections and offer a more wide variety of volunteering opportunities for students at Westford Academy.
Betsy Murphy, now a dean at WA, began the club several years ago with the intention of providing students with more opportunities for community service, and the club continues to offer help around town whenever it is needed.
“The WA Pride Club was started to help fill a community need, and to provide students at WA with community service opportunities,” said Tracy McLaughlin, a guidance counselor at Westford Academy, who is also an advisor for the club.
For example, in the past WA Pride has responded when parents asked for tutors for special needs students, or for senior citizens requiring spring cleaning.
Jennifer Girardi, a science teacher and also one of the advisors for the club, believes that community service is very important in a student’s high school experience.
“It allows students to do something entirely for somebody else, which is an opportunity that we don’t get a lot,” she said
WA Pride members work with the elementary and middle schools in Westford as well as the Cameron Senior Center on a regular basis, but are looking to find more local venues.
Opportunities at WA Pride are both long-term and short-term in terms of commitment. Some programs, like the mentoring program, require a weekly commitment. Others might require only a couple of hours on a single day, like a fundraising event.
The mentor program run at Westford elementary and middle schools is known as Ghosts and Goblins. Students can help their younger peers with homework, or simply be a friend and someone that the younger student can talk to or play games with, depending on the school they choose.
Sakshi Jhawar, a freshman at Westford Academy, tutors a 4th grade student from Abbot Elementary every week.
“It’s really rewarding to help out the kids with their homework, and they’re always very eager to learn. I really enjoy tutoring at the elementary school every week,” said Jhawar.
Bus transportation to most of these schools makes travel convenient for volunteers, but students need to provide their own rides back home.
The homework program is currently in place at nearly all the elementary and middle schools in Westford, and has about ten active student volunteers.
McLaughlin and Girardi hope to expand options and find more diverse settings for community service projects in Westford, and even in nearby urban settings.
Diversity has been another topic that WA Pride advisors and members would like to expand upon, and ideas include having students present about their cultural holidays throughout the year.
