All Heart Compassion Shines Through When Greene-Hills Students Organize a Day and Raise Money for a Scholarship to Honor a Special Teacher

July 3, 2019

This year in the Gifted Program, elementary students at Greene-Hills School were challenged to come up with a project that would solve a school need and leave a legacy behind. Ideas were brainstormed, and many viable options emerged. The final decision, made by students Caitlyn Carbone, Lyla Sowder, Lillian VanNostrand, Cody Skypek, Jacson Deveau and Rocky Bonin was to plan, organize, promote, and schedule a day to honor Stacey Clingan, a beloved teacher at Greene-Hills who passed away in March of 2018.

Fifth grader Caitlyn Carbone, a former student, felt that there should be a way to honor Mrs. Clingan that coincided with her love of basketball.

On Monday, May 20th, Clingan’s Court, a day to honor Stacey Clingan took place at Greene-Hills School. Leading up to the event, students organized coin drives, created promotional posters, wrote promotional announcements, and scheduled a day of activities. In addition, students gathered specials schedules and lunch schedules and created a master schedule for all classes to have convenient time slots to enjoy a day of basketball related fun. Greene-Hills art teacher Jen Chase also put together an art project allowing students to decorate Relay for Life luminaries. Students worked the entire day on Monday, making and selling popcorn, leading classes through the basketball skills challenges, and overseeing the art portion of the day’s festivities.

An after school staff vs middle school basketball game was the culminating activity. Prior to the start of the game, a video montage was shared in honor of Mrs. Clingan. Her husband Bill was in attendance and shared some wonderful thoughts about Mrs. Clingan with the students. After the video, Greene-Hills School principal Scott Gaudet and student Caitlyn Carbone addressed the crowd and the game was on. In a spirited contest, the staff was able to outlast a very resilient student team coached by teacher Stacey Rivoira.

This student project raised a total of $600.00. Five hundred dollars was earmarked for a scholarship in Stacey Clingan’s name which has been established by the Greene-Hills School teachers and staff. One hundred dollars was donated in Stacey’s memory to the American Cancer Society.

“The level of engagement, leadership, and compassion that students exhibited during this process has made me as proud as I have ever been as a teacher,” stated Alan Theriault, Gifted Program Teacher for the Bristol Public Schools. “If more students follow the lead of Caitlyn, Lyla, Lilly, Cody, Jacson, and Rocky we will all be in good hands!”

Incredible accomplishments often come down to one key characteristic: Heart. Here in Bristol, heart is the engine that pumps passion into everything we do. We may not always be the biggest or the strongest, but we’re always the hardest working, the most resilient, the most resourceful and generous. These students are an example of how Bristol has the heart to get things done!