Last week two Upper School classes banded together in order to visit service organization (and longtime OES community partner) Clay Street Table (CST).

As educators Stephanie Portman and Sara Fromme shared, "Students in the Mandarin 5 and Modern India and China classes went to Clay Street Table to meet with Chinese American elders.  As preparation for our visit, students in both classes wrote questions that reflected what they had learned. Questions were generated by the Modern India and China class about Chinese culture and history, and then the Mandarin students translated those questions along with introductions of each student. This collaborative effort allowed students to work together to create a thoughtful basis for conversation with the elders.

At Clay Street Table, the students and elders shared an OES-provided snack, and then the students helped the "grandmas" prepare dumplings to be served to the Chinese American community that weekend.  Vanessa Le, one of the student coordinators said, 'It went well! We had a lot of time to speak with the elders and they were very kind.'"

Upper School Service Learning Coordinator Robin Schauffler added, "This is a prime example of service supporting curricular learning supporting service learning! Everybody wins." And as the This Week at the Table newsletter from CST remarked, "The students plan to be back again, to learn more and help as all learn more about our diverse Table community!"

(Photo Credit: OES Mandarin Teacher Sara Fromme)