Norton Students Attend Multiple Wheaton Events throughout Month of April

The Office of SSSR has had a busy month this past April! We’ve been working with Wheaton student volunteers, faculty, and staff members to help create and facilitate fun and educational opportunities primarily for students in the local community.

As a part of Wheaton’s “Better Together” day, Music Professor Delvyn Case, Earl Raney, and the Epic Brass Quintet, organized a Children’s Concert and invited all children from the Norton community. Nearly 100 children and their parents from the Norton Public Schools, Head Start, Elisabeth W. Amen Nursery School, and Wheaton faculty and staff attended this enchanting concert in the Holman Room of Mary Lyon on Saturday April 11th. Wheaton’s Chris Truini ’16 narrated the interactive story of the entrapment of two young children in a fire that breaks out at the circus. A Norton firefighter even brought his fire equipment and gear with him in order to teach the audience about fire safety.

The following Tuesday, April 14th, Wheaton College hosted Norton Head Start’s Buddy Night, a bi-weekly event where Head Start children and the father figures in their lives come together with Head Start staff in order to spend time together. Our MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA worker, Cassie Peltola ’14 and astronomy major Emerald Bresnahan ’15 worked together in order to develop a lesson plan for the event and received assistance throughout the event with help from child-savvy Aaron Peckham ’16 and Head Start volunteer, Antonio Rosado ’15. By the end of the night, each of the 11 three – five year old Head Start children in attendance had visited Wheaton’s observatory deck and seen the large telescopes, learned to use telescopes and binoculars, and learned about the dangers of looking directly into a sun using this equipment. Our guests also expressed eagerness to return for another event at Wheaton. We hope to invite more members of the Wheaton community to take advantage of these opportunities to share their expertise while helping to strengthen our community as a whole!

Finally, members of the Norton community were invited to WheaFarm’s Farm Fest – a community-wide event spearheaded by SSSR’s Ciara Sidell’15, to welcome our brand new community garden! The event consisted of live music, a food truck, a rock wall, and educational activities designed for young children. Read the full article here.

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