In the giving spirit

Corona del Mar High students visit elementary school to hand out school supplies.Connor Corrigan was a little nervous visiting a first-grade class at College Park Elementary School on Friday morning. The 15-year-old Corona del Mar High School sophomore had never read aloud to children before -- especially English-learners.

“It was difficult,” Connor said afterward. “You had to read slowly, and you didn’t want to mess up.”

However, the event was a first in a broader sense as well. When Connor and 11 other students from Corona del Mar’s Tolerance Among People club visited College Park to read stories and distribute backpacks full of school supplies, they became the first high school group ever to join in Volunteer Center Orange County’s annual holiday giving program.

The Volunteer Center started the Spirit of Giving program in 2002 to benefit students in Title I elementary schools -- those designated as having socioeconomic disadvantages under the No Child Left Behind Act. In the past, fire departments, colleges and corporations have visited the campuses. This year, Tolerance Among People advisor Denise Weiland encouraged her students to do the same.

Weiland was aided in her quest by a personal friend: Bette Weinberg, director of the Youth Connection program at the Volunteer Center. Weinberg had been seeking a youth group to participate in the Spirit of Giving, and knew that Weiland’s club wanted to do a local event.

“It’s a great message for high school students to come into elementary schools -- better than grown-ups,” Weinberg said. “I think kids like kids.”

To raise money for the event, Weiland’s students worked the concessions stand at football games, sold unity bracelets and got a grant from the Leadership Institute for Teens. In the days before visiting College Park, the club members stuffed backpacks with notebooks, glue, pencils and other supplies.

When the first-graders came into class Friday morning, they unexpectedly found the backpacks on their desks. Two of Weiland’s students visited each class to read Edith Hope Fine’s story “Under the Lemon Moon,” about a young Mexican girl whose lemon tree is robbed, and who responds to the theft with a selfless act of charity.

After the story, the students were given the go-ahead to open their backpacks -- although some admitted that they had peeked already. When juniors Hillary McElroy and Behnaz Babaknia, both 16, finished reading, they asked Amy Justice’s first-graders if they planned to do a good deed for someone else that day.

“I’m going to give some of my toys away to my friends,” said Adrian Martinez, 7. “They don’t have a lot of toys.”

Alexis Naccache, 6, said she would help her mother wash the dishes that evening.

College Park was one of 12 Orange County elementary schools serviced by the Volunteer Center this month, and the only one in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Weinberg said the center mailed letters to the principals of every Title I school each year, but got surprisingly few responses.

“If I were a principal and someone called offering free backpacks, I would say, ‘Yes!’,” she remarked. “But not that many people call us back.”

However, College Park principal Pat Insley said she would welcome a repeat performance.

“They did an outstanding job,” she said of the Corona del Mar students. “The story they selected was appropriate for the subject matter, and they let the kids interact with them.”

The Tolerance Among People club, better known as TAP, was founded three years ago by two students, Florencia Krochik and Andrea Savopoles, who have since graduated. The 40-member club dedicates its time to promoting diversity and combating prejudice, along with other philanthropic activities.

Later this month, the club plans to visit HealthBridge Children’s Hospital in Orange. Another annual event, held in spring, is Challenge Day, a day of activities and discussions devoted to overcoming racial and religious barriers.

“The beauty of TAP is that the students are not selected or elected, so any interested student can become involved,” Weiland said. “This allows the group to be very inclusive and encourages students of diverse backgrounds to have an active voice and work together to create a safe school and community culture.”

Or, as Hillary put it: “It’s a life-changing experience.”(LA)First-graders raise their hands to answer questions asked by Corona del Mar High School students. 20051203iqwgv4knPHOTOS BY COURTENAY NEARBURG / DAILY PILOT(LA)Corona del Mar High School sophomore Connor Corrigan and a club advisor, Denise Weiland, talk to College Park firstgraders about what they want to be when they grow up. The club gave the children backpacks filled with school supplies. 20051203iqwgumknPHOTOS BY COURTENAY NEARBURG / DAILY PILOT(LA)Corona del Mar High School sophomore Connor Corrigan and a club advisor, Denise Weiland, talk to College Park firstgraders about what they want to be when they grow up. The club gave the children backpacks filled with school supplies.