Spring Break is not only a time for rest and relaxation, but also an opportunity for Kent students to explore the world outside of school. For 17 years, Mrs. Sokolnicki, our Director of Community Service, has organized Spring Break Community Service Trips to places all around the country. This year’s trip included a group of nine students and two of our faculty members, Ms. Badecker and Mr. Robey, to New York City and its surrounding cities.

The first day took students to Harlem Academy, “a private school for promising promising children from underserved communities,” which was founded by Vincent Dotoli, a Kent School alum. There, students helped middle-schoolers with writing and editing essays. The next four days were spent working with Habitat for Humanity. Our students repainted walls in New Rochelle, did construction at the Habitat site in Yonkers, and most notably, worked on the reconstruction of an old Quaker house in Chappaqua.

This is the third year students from Kent School have partnered with this Habitat for Humanity group based in New York. Mrs. Sokolnicki says that, since the school started doing these kinds of community service trips in 2001, working with this Habitat chapter has been a strong partnership, because students are “able to volunteer no matter their age,” giving any and all Kent students the chance to experience and give back to a larger community.

The participants were happy to share their experiences and encourage others to try going on these trips in the future. “I really enjoyed the teamwork I developed with people I wouldn’t often otherwise meet at Kent,” said Lara Li ’19. Ms. Badecker emphasized the new perspectives students can gain from this trip, allowing them to “view into the broader world, gaining not only skills but also real-world experiences.”