Amherst Together Accomplishments

As the school year ends, following are some of the noted Amherst Together accomplishments for the high school:

People of Color United (POCU) members joined 1,500 volunteers to help revitalize 62 homes for Springfield residents;

Refugees In Distress club (RDC) organized an assembly to raise awareness and educate the community about the plight of refugees;

Black Lives Matter (BLM) held two assemblies featuring the history of BLM, performances, and small group discussions;

Best Buddies club hosted several events to bring awareness to the isolation of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities;

Community Service Club hosted an annual Red Cross Blood Drive in April, where 74 students and 10 staff members donated blood. 37 pints were collected, setting a record with the most since 2011.

A French-Francophone Dinner explored various aspects of French and Francophone cultures from France to West Africa;

African Scholars Program shared its experiences of living with families during its recent exchange trip to Senegal and The Gambia;

In Our Shoes blog was recently launched to educate and actively discuss feminist issues.

At the South East High School Campus, a $7,500 AEF grant provided students an opportunity to construction a greenhouse for hands-on education in sustainable gardening and food production.

Amherst Together is a town and school collaborative that began in 2014, as a vehicle for the community/employer aspect of the Ron Ferguson model that our district uses to close the achievement gap. The initiative reaches into our broader community to find where there might be common agendas to align efforts and continues to evolve with the goal of creating a collective impact movement. Much of the work is done through the lens of posing larger social questions that impact equity and inclusion for all students (gender, ethnicity, ability, social-economic, identity, etc).

For further information see the Amherst Together website at www.amhersttogether.org