Hayden French, and 8th grader at Moran Middle School, joined Watkinson School's 39-person Dominican Republic Service Team and spent the week of Thanksgiving participating in medical clinics, distributing food, and building houses and community gardens for the displaced Haitians who live and work in sugar cane work camps in the La Romana Region. Here Hayden (center) is pick axing rock for the subfloor of the house the team constructed at Batey 50, one of the sugar cane work camps. Teammates Cory Wilson (front right, of Glastonbury), Deepika Ravichandran (front left, of Hartford) and Tom Bieluch (rear, of Hartford) assist with shoveling. Hayden has participated in this trip for four consecutive years. The trip is co-led by his mother, Jenni French (of Wallingford), Watkinson's director of c (Jenni French / December 21, 2013)

7:10 p.m. EST, December 21, 2013

The group, led by Watkinson's Communication Director Jenni French (of Wallingford) and Dean of Faculty Sandy Garca (of Hartford), is comprised of 19 students age 13 through 18 and 20 alumni, faculty members and parents. This is the fourth annual service-learning trip Watkinson has sent to this region. This year, the trip has travelers from several other organizations joining the team, including Hartford's University High School of Science and Engineering (UHSSE), the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Miss Porter's School.

Co-leader Jenni French commented, "Watkinson is privileged to be forming partnerships with the University High School of Engineering and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. A Watkinson alum, Liz Benfield (of Wethersfield) went on this trip in 2012. Liz teaches Spanish at the UHSSE and as soon as we returned from La Romana last year Liz started planning with me how to get a group of her students to join our team. Similarly, an alumni parent, Kiki Nissen (of Farmington), is associate dean for graduate medical education at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and helped us enlist three residents to work with our team on the medical clinics we run. We are excited for these new partnerships to develop in the years to come."

Watkinson School is a co-educational day school for grades 6-PG. Founded in 1881, Watkinson is Hartford's oldest independent school. With the addition of this gift, Watkinson's endowment is now approaching $7 million. Watkinson's next open house for prospective athletes is Jan. 15 at 7 p.m., prospective artists is Jan. 29 at 6:30 p.m. and general open house for prospective students is Jan. 26 at 1 p.m.

Continued here:
READER SUBMITTED: Watkinson School Sends 39 Travelers On Service Trip To Dominican Republic