As the ultimate lesson in social responsibility, Mr. Facciani’s homeroom class decided to take its discussion about community activism to the next level and make a meaningful contribution to a worthy cause.

“As we continued talking, I challenged the homeroom to brainstorm ideas about a community service project,” says Mr. Facciani. “My goal was to engage them in a student-driven project where they would be the driving force. Once all of the ideas were collected, the class decided to raise money for the refugees in Darfur.”

The class came up with an idea to combine service with a bit of fun by creating a dunk tank featuring teachers. The class formed committees, including a business research committee to find the best deal on dunk tanks, a maintenance committee to determine water and facility issues with the maintenance staff, and a recruitment committee responsible for drafting “top picks” and asking teachers to volunteer one class period of time to sit in the dunk tank. Several students were also involved in the communications committee, sending a letter home to the entire Short Hills parent body explaining the project. Finally, all of the students were involved in different aspects of planning a morning meeting to unveil the Darfur Project to the Pingry students!

On the day of the event, Friday, May 25th, the Pingry community support from teachers, students and parents was incredible. As students collected money and organized students from each PE class to throw softballs at the target to dunk their favorite teachers, students and faculty demonstrated great sportsmanship and cheered each other on. Thanks to the commitment and persistence of the students and the “bravery” of the 15 teachers who volunteered to be dunked, the Pingry community was able to raise $2,023 for the Red Cross International Relief Fund to aid refugees in Darfur. The project was successful in raising funds and teaching an invaluable lesson about community service to all of the students.



© 2007 The Pingry School