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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
For the past three years, the Needham Center at the Heights has invited Hillside students in the Water Project to give a presentation on the current state of water in the world, as well as their findings and new learnings about water. Amy Cicala’s fourth grade class and George Goneconto’s second grade classes had been buddy classes for a number of years. In 2008, they decided to introduce a central theme to unify their buddy class program. The theme they chose was water awareness and conservation. The program is now in its ninth year.
A water curriculum was specifically designed as a series of lessons to introduce students to personal, community, and global water usage. The school years culminates in a service learning project to support the UNICEF Tap Project, as well as another charity which changes from year to year. This past year, the funds went to aid Flint, Michigan. The last eight buddy classes have raised over $11,000.
The students went on a tour of the Needham Water Treatment Plant and learned how they got water in Needham. During their presentation, after reciting the water chant, which presented fun facts about what the buddies had in common (as well as things they had learned about water), they went around and each pair explained a little bit of their buddy project.
They certainly had plenty to talk about.
Over the year, the group also did a water taste test and heard a presentation by a UNICEF fellow affiliated with the Tap Project. They also drew pictures of all of the events they had, such as carrying a gallon of water around the track at Hillside to see what it would be like to be a child in Africa who has to travel to get water. The group performed at halftime at a Needham High School basketball game, and will perform again at the Father’s Day BBQ at Volante Farms.
“This water project really takes a great deal of effort from all of us and we thank you so much for making it a priority to have your children participate in these activities,” Goneconto said. “This is something that we hope that your children will remember and as they get older and they get into high school that they will decide that this is something that’s really important. It may not be water, but it may be some other commitment that they want to align themselves with.”
