Student Grants Awarded

The Mamaroneck Schools Foundation has approved funding for the following nine student grants for the 2023-2024 school year. The student grants, which total $16,362, will have an impact on Mamaroneck High School and beyond.

 
Therapy Dogs at MHS
Grantees: Avery Mollin, Caroline Carrier
Faculty Sponsors: Peter Greene
This grant will bring therapy dogs to MHS during June 2024 Regents exams in order to reduce both student and faculty stress. The dogs will be brought to the school through the agency Giving Retriever, which has successfully worked with other MUFSD schools in the past.

Model United Nations (MUN) Conference Fund
Grantee: Shauna Wendell, Jaheim Bent, Katherine Wong
Faculty Sponsor: Alleana Brody
This grant will provide the MUN club at MHS with funding for Delegation and Delegate fees for up to 15 students to attend a regional MUN conference held at Boston University.

Advanced Photography Equipment
Grantees: Emily Scobie
Faculty Sponsor: Gwynne Bettencourt
This grant will provide advanced photography students with a mirrorless camera, lens and accessories kit, as well as additional lenses. This equipment will give students more creative control, choice, and versatility over their work, which will allow them to prepare amazing photography portfolios for art shows, AP portfolios, colleges, and beyond.

Original Civic Research and Action (OCRA) Food Scrap Pickup Program
Grantees: Gavin Sneyd, Jake Gill, Owen Wallace, Tessa Goldsmith, James Chaice
Faculty Sponsor: Joe Liberti
This grant expands the food scrap pickup program run by MHS OCRA students in the Village of Larchmont. The program currently has over 45 participating households, with over 5,000 pounds of recycled food scraps since October 2022. The grant will fund the purchase of materials such as buckets and signs. The goal of the OCRA students is to influence the Village of Larchmont to adopt a food scrap pickup for residents.

Just Mercy: Criminal Justice in the US
Grantee: Ethan Ferguson
Faculty Sponsors: Evan Madin, James Short
In Spring 2024, in conjunction with AP Language classes reading of “Just Mercy,” by Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) founder Bryan Stevenson, MHS will host an assembly for juniors and seniors with former

death row inmate of 30 years, Anthony Ray Hinton. Mr. Hinton, who is an EJI staff member and author of “The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row,” will discuss his experience being wrongfully arrested, convicted and sentenced to death for a 1985 double robbery-murder. With the assistance of the EJI, Mr. Hinton’s case was appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which paved the way for his exoneration in April 2015. This grant will cover a portion of the speaking fees for this event.

 
Be Pausitive
Grantee: Mia Robarts
Faculty Sponsor: Helene Fremder
This grant will fund the development and creation of mindfulness kits for students who may be experiencing social or emotional distress. The kits will be distributed by the MUFSD elementary school counselors and psychologists for use in school and at home. Kits will include mindfulness exercises to help students build stress tolerance skills as well as materials such as stress balls, sensory stickers, and tangle fidgets.

 
MHS Track & Field: Charge On
Grantee: Maxwell Robinson
Faculty Sponsor: Bob Morrissey
This grant will purchase a 420-Watt Portable Solar Generator so that students can charge devices in order to complete school work during track meets, which are typically full-day events.

A New Tiger's Den
Grantee: Lillian Zmuda
Faculty sponsor: Vincent Minotti
This grant will fund the conversation of an existing unused space into a welcoming space for students. The creation of a new MHS “Tiger's Den” will help foster a better sense of community and belonging for MHS students. This grant will fund comfortable furniture and supplies, such as board games, stress balls and bulletin board, to help make the Tiger’s Den inviting and engaging to the MHS community.

MHS Info Equipment
Grantee: Nate Greven
Faculty Sponsor: Elena Elmoznino
This grant provides a new and modern teleprompter for the MHS Info show, a weekly, student-written and produced show for the MHS community aired on Fridays. MHS Info includes important topics for the school community, delivered in an entertaining format. The new teleprompter will increase the professionalism of the programming and overall ease of producing it.