Faculty members share their talents with SASH children

Lé-Anne Johnson, Staff Writer|November 27, 2018

On select Saturdays, Sacred Heart Greenwich student volunteers and children from low-income families come together at Sacred Heart for the Saturdays at Sacred Heart (SASH) program. SASH brings as many as 50 boys and girls to the Sacred Heart campus to spend the afternoon enjoying activities such as arts and crafts, and sports, according to cshgreenwich.org.  This year for the first time, Sacred Heart faculty members conducted the SASH activities, November 10.

Mrs. Marnie McLaughlin teaching students to knit. Courtesy of Mrs. Kerry Bader

Upper School Art Teacher Mrs. Marnie McLaughlin explained how her experience teaching the children how to knit was a challenge.  However, watching them help each other made the experience noteworthy.

“Teaching knitting to [the children] who participated in SASH was challenging and rewarding. The most rewarding part of the experience was how eager [they] were to try knitting and how exciting it was when they figured it out,” Mrs. McLaughlin said.  “It took some time to get everyone going, and it was a large group for just one teacher, so a couple of kids who picked it up quickly helped others who were having more difficulty.”

Upper School Arabic and French Teacher Mrs. Souad Malih taught the children how to write their names in Arabic.  Mrs. Malih explained the challenges of teaching young children the basics of a difficult language.

“The children have enjoyed this little exposure to Arabic.  For them writing their name in Arabic letters was an invention,” Mrs. Malih said.  “[The children] did not know that the Arabic alphabet is different than the Roman languages, so they were surprised to see their names written in different letters.” 

Mr. Robert Morrow talking about the observatory during SASH.  Courtesy of Mrs. Kerry Bader

Mr. Robert Morrow, Upper School Science and Astronomy Teacher and Sacred Heart parent, opened the Mary Aloysia Hardey RSCJ Observatory and taught the children about astronomy.  He highlighted that SASH allows students from other schools to be exposed to Sacred Heart’s values and learning experiences.

“Even if it’s just for the Saturdays, [the children] experience the whole ideology of what our school does, and it’s really great for them to have that opportunity and to experience the values and goals of Sacred Heart, which may be different than their own school,”  Mr. Morrow said.
 
Featured Image by Lé-Anne Johnson ’21