On Friday, November 1st the Chick fil-A Leadership Academy members got on the bus heading to Four Corners Lower School to read children’s books with the kindergarteners.
“As part of the Chick-fil-A Academy ‘One Million Book Giveaway’ we are on our second annual trip to the lower school to read to kindergartens,” Advisor Kristen Fendone said.
Some of the books read such as the ‘First Big Book of Why’, a favorite amongst a few children, were sent by Chick-fil-A Inc.
“My favorite part of the book was the dolphins going up in the ocean, I liked how they jumped up, the big kids were fun to talk to,” kindergartner Maddie Menendez said.
Like the little kids, club members also seemed to have a fun time. Freshman Keilianis Robles enjoyed spending her morning going through the books she read as a kid.
“I read ‘Pete the Cat, I love my white shoes’, and it has a little song where it says, ‘I love my white shoes’ and the kids started to move their shoulders to it, which was very cute, it was the best part,” Robles said.
Robles shares that although this was her first time taking part in this activity it is not the first time children surround her.
“My mom is a principal, and she was also a teacher, so I am always at her schools, so I am around little kids. Sometimes I volunteer at their lunches, so I get along with little kids,” Robles said.
For some of the members, this visit brought back memories of their childhood on the very same campus.
“I was safety patrol captain when I was in 5th grade and seeing that they still do that here [at the lower school] and being able to know I was one of the first kids that did it and now after seven years they still do it, it felt really nostalgic,” senior Carlee Johnson said.
Senior Lauren Jorda is what they call a ‘lifer’ as she has been at Four Corners since Kindergarten. Jorda’s memories of the campus were brought back through one of the kindergarteners she bonded with.
“There was this one girl that was just like me when I was little, she was shy, I had to go up to her and talk to her until she became more comfortable with me. I remember I was a very introverted kid, but in one of the playgrounds on this campus, I made my first friend. She had the initiative to come up and talk to me, she did not know how much of an impact that had on me, but now I try to do the same thing to other people,” Jorda said.
A few of the classrooms visited were ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classrooms, where kids who have difficult time understanding English are taught. Senior Alejandro Contador was one of the Spanish-speaking members who read to them.
“I choose to read to them in Spanish not only for the convenience but also to communicate the information better. Spanish is my first language, and I felt a sort of connection with them since at some point in my life I also had difficulties understanding English, so I did my best to adapt to them,” Contador said.
The Chick-fil-A Leadership Academy has 4 officers however, sophomore Gabrielle Destine is the only officer who is not a Senior. Destine is now the Academy’s Secretary, but she started her trajectory freshman year in Principles of Biomedical Science class.
“I first heard about the club because Mrs.Fendone told me about it when I was still a freshman in her PBS (Principles of Biomedical Science) class, I thought it seemed interesting, so I decided to join,” Destine said.
With all the other officers graduating Destine will be the only officer to continue in the club. She hopes to become President and be more noted as a leader.
“I decided to run because I knew I wanted to be president of the Chick-fil-A club so I wanted to start and make my way to the top, I think being a leader like that will make me be more noticed in life,” Destine said.
