One of the reasons Westover students enjoy taking part in community service programs with younger children is the chance to interact one-on-one with them and, in the process, really get to know them and forge a connection.

During a pandemic, however, the rules in place for social distancing understandably make those opportunities for a close connection difficult, though not impossible, to achieve.

The challenge then this year for Robyn Ames, Director of Westover’s Community Service, has been to come up with a program that would safeguard social distance practices but still allow plenty of interaction between Westover students and the children they work with.

For six Wednesdays this winter, Robyn and one of the School’s two Community Service teams were able to make that happen — thanks to an after-school program for groups of elementary school children offered not in person but via Zoom with one of Westover’s frequent community service partners, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Waterbury.

Westover’s Community Service program has had a long and successful connection with the Boys & Girls Club, whose Executive Director is Karen Ross Senich ’86. Building on that connection this winter, Robyn worked with Drew Postupack, the club’s Director of Operations, and Brittany Palmer, a member of the club’s support staff, to create a weekly virtual activities program.

“We knew we would be meeting with the kids every Wednesday for about an hour, sometimes more and sometimes less,” Robyn said.

As part of their planning for the program, Robyn first brainstormed with the seven members of the Community Service Team — seniors Aseah Montambault and Nadia Tavares; juniors Sarah Adams, Morry Ajao, and Salma Talukdar; and sophomores Lara Belcher and Adia Isaacson — who would be organizing and running the six program sessions.

“We did some research, finding different kinds of activities that we thought the children might like to do,” Robyn recalled. “Then, I basically gave our team members a blank form to fill out by listing the specific activities they decided they wanted to offer each week.” The students also divided up into groups of two or three team members who would be responsible for organizing and running each of the sessions. Robyn and the other students would still take part in each Zoom session to help when needed and to observe what worked well to incorporate into future activities.

Each Tuesday, Robyn would meet with the team to go over the final plans for the next day’s Zoom program with the children, checking to see what supplies would be needed for the activities, and going through a practice run of the next day’s session to ensure it would go smoothly.

Robyn would then gather any supplies the children would need for that week’s activity and on Wednesday morning would deliver the materials — along with treats such as cookies and juice — to the Boys & Girls Club, which is located on East Main Street in Waterbury.

Each of the sessions drew 15 to 18 children. The first two were for first and second graders, and the remaining four were for fourth and fifth graders.

Along with an opening ice-breaker game, each week’s session featured a different activity. The first two weekly programs for the younger children included making paper snowflakes and a Valentine heart craft project. For the older children’s sessions, the programs featured Simon Says and Mad Libs, a Black History Month activity, a scavenger hunt, and a dance party featuring Lara as the day’s DJ spinning Disney movie songs.

Offering the programs on Zoom did present some logistical challenges.

The children at the Boys & Girls Club could easily watch Robyn and the Westover Community Service team members projected on a big screen as they demonstrated a craft or led an activity. But Robyn and her team could only see the children as one big group through the staff member’s laptop camera —with all of them wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.

“Whenever a child was showing us something they had worked on,” Robyn said, “we would ask them to come up closer to the camera so we could see them more clearly.”

Despite the visual limitations, Robyn said the team were still able to adjust to the virtual conditions and were soon making connections with the children from one week to the next.

“We really started to get to know them. And seeing the kids’ energy would lift up our spirits — and there was a lot of energy,” Robyn noted with a laugh. For example, she added, “Every Mad Lib game always seems to include the word ‘underwear,’” which would always result in explosions of giggles.

For the Black History presentation, Morry presented a slide show that featured the achievement of Black individuals in society.

Robyn noted that those figures highlighted were not the more famous individuals usually featured in school presentations and the media, but people who were less well-known but nevertheless accomplished. “We wanted to do something that the children might not otherwise learn in school,” she explained.

As part of Morry’s presentation, the children also were given illustrations of the individuals profiled, which they could then color as an activity. They were then invited to come up to the camera to show their artwork and share why they had chosen that person.

After each session, Robyn said, the team would meet “to debrief and talk about what went well” to help them plan for the next session.

“Overall, I think it was a huge success, especially considering the limitations we were dealing with,” Robyn said. “It was our first time trying to offer activities like this over Zoom and I admit I was really nervous before we started. It definitely was a little more work than our usual on-site activities.”

But, Robyn added, it was worth all the effort, and the Community Service Team members agreed.

Morry’s favorite moments came while “watching how enthusiastic the children would get during an activity or when they would have the treat that Robyn had dropped off for them that day. To see that joy was really beautiful. What was so satisfying and meaningful about it was how simple those moments were. Everything is increasingly complicated nowadays, and their happiness provided me with some much-needed peace.” 

Aseah thought the team’s most successful session featured the Mad Libs activity. “Beforehand, I had thought it would be nearly impossible to truly get everyone involved and excited, because we were all virtual, but the children were amazing,” she recalled. “They were so involved and eager to shout out answers. My favorite part was reading each story at the end and hearing their laughter.”

For Adia, “The most successful activities were the ones where the kids were able to get up and move around. They were super energetic, so things like Simon Says worked really well.” 

Nadia’s favorite moments came “seeing the children light up with joy when they were handed a coloring page, a craft, or were able to stand up and dance. I loved seeing how happy they were when we would join the Zoom. The children wanted to be there. They wanted to participate in the activities we planned.”

“Even though we were interacting with them virtually,” Lara noted, “It was so great to see the kids laughing and having fun each week. Sometimes it was difficult to talk to them over Zoom, but the excitement they had even just seeing us was wonderful.”

“I know during this pandemic it has been very hard for children to learn and have fun,” Lara added, “so for them to be able to interact with people outside of the Boys & Girls Club and their own family was probably such a relief.”

Aseah added, “I am proud of my teammates for taking the time to brainstorm stimulating activities for this virtual program. I also admire the children for having such bright attitudes throughout our weeks together.”