“I will never forget the moment that I came up with the idea for Success Starts with a Pencil.  It was a July morning and I was out for a walk with my mother.  We were talking about our plans for the remainder of the summer.  My mother, who is a graduate of Sacred Heart Greenwich, developed a passion for service to others during her years here.  On that walk, she challenged me to develop a service project and see it to completion before school started that fall.  As I thought about her challenge, and heading back to school, I got excited about my own personal experiences getting prepared for school to begin.  I especially love back to school supply shopping.  There is nothing better than sharp new pencils, fresh crayons, and clean notebooks.  I then began to think about so many students in our own community that may not be able to share this exciting experience due to financial constraints.  For these students, what is a very exciting time must be stressful, as they likely dread going back to school without a new backpack and the proper supplies.  It was at that moment that I decided to focus my project on creating backpacks filled with new school supplies for elementary school-aged children.  I realized that being successful often relies on simply having the proper tools, and for a young student that may be as simple as the proper school supplies, even if it’s just a new pencil.”  

What is the goal of your organization?

“The goal of Success Starts with a Pencil is to empower students, some of whom are heading off to school for the first time, with the tools that they will need to be successful.  The backpacks include pencils, crayons, erasers, a pencil box, glue sticks, notebooks, folders, and lots of other basic supplies necessary for a young student.  I want the students to feel excited as they head back to school, or to school for the first time, and to not be stressed or anxious because they do not have what they need.  We all know that going to school is a bit stressful anyway, so having to show up without what you need can be embarrassing and an added layer of stress that these young students do not need.  Success Starts with a Pencil is intended to alleviate all of these stresses and anxieties for the young scholars.”

What impact do you hope your organization will have on the children that you are helping?

“I really hope that Success Starts with a Pencil has positive effects on the children that it supports and instills in them a love for school from a young age.  I want them to look forward to going back to school, focus on learning, and participate in the classroom with confidence knowing that they have the supplies they need to be successful.” 

The King Street Chronicle thanks junior Madison Mezzatesta ’21 for her contributions to “Humans of Sacred Heart.”