On the Monday before Thanksgiving last November, a gaggle of first-grade students from the Milton Bradley School bundled up in jackets, hats, and scarves, walked the short distance to Dakin Humane and arrived at the front door carrying bags of pet supplies. The goods had been collected as part of their school’s “Good Citizen” Project Based Learning experience, real-life projects to learn what it means to be a good citizen and give back to the community.

“We tied that into our social studies unit, which was community and being good citizens,” said first-grade teacher Nicolette LaVoie. “We brainstormed and thought what ‘better way to help our community than help animals in need?’. It got them involved and got them engaged. They were really excited.”

The first graders had to answer the question Can we, as good citizens, help animals in our community?” and came up with the idea to hold a donation drive. They made videos for morning announcements, created flyers, and conducted an interview with Dakin to help collect donations.

Milton Bradley School Principal Kristen Hughes explained to 22 News “We just think it’s really important to get our kids out in the community, know what services are out here, and how they can help and be members of our society.”