Sen. Kennedy Praises City Schools

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 praised Cambridge junior high school students for their participation in community service programs around the city in a speech yesterday at the Graham and Parks elementary school.

Addressing more than 200 students and city organization officials, Kennedy commended all the Graham and Park seventh and eighth graders who worked in city community agencies as part of the "Serve America" project.

Surrounded on the stage by Secretary of Education Piedad Robertson, Graham and Parks School principal Leonard Solo, Commissioner of Education Robert Antonucci, and a group of seventh and eighth graders, Kennedy related "Serve America" to the Peace Corps of the 1960's.

He applauded the young students for leading a "peace corps" in their own communities and for assuming civic responsibilities at such a young age.

"They [the students] are giving something back to the community as part of their way of life," said Kennedy after the ceremony. "From the cradle to the grave...this is the way to start."

"There's a desire of people to serve," added Kennedy. "We just haven't given them the chance."

"Serve America" is one of four nationwide programs Kennedy sponsored in his 1990 National and Community Service Act. Its goal is to encourage schools and colleges to offer student community service opportunities through federal, state and local grants.

The Graham and Parks School and the Tobin School, the two grant recipients in Cambridge, have each received $5000 to fund the community learning program for their students.

"Graham and Parks was chosen because of its central location and because it has a tremendous history of community service projects and a strong multi-cultural student body," said Judy Gruen from the Office of Community Education, which coordinates the "Serve America" program together with Massachusetts Youth Service Alliance.

Solo said in his speech that he was pleased with the way the school's teachers and students responded to what he called "a profound loss of people helping neighbors in our nation."

All the junior high students at Graham and Parks work for three hours in a range of agencies that address community needs: health care, legal services, homelessness, elderly, consumer protection, hunger, community education and the environment. They then integrate their experiences into the curriculum through written projects and oral presentations.

After the ceremony Kennedy walked around the Graham and Parks School auditorium, observing the students' displays and listening to seventh and eighth graders talk about their community service experiences.

"I had a lot of fun," said Georgia M. Ewen-Campen 13, an eighth grader at Graham and Parks who worked at a Cambridge Historical Commission. "The people [at the commission] were very supportive, but it was hard to do the reports after."

Lizzie Schlesinger-Cohen, 13, an eighth grader who worked at the Windsor Elderly Care Center and spoke yesterday at the ceremony, said that listening to older people and giving them comfort changed her view of the elderly. She said they had turned out to be "a lot more fun" than she had expected.

Schlesinger-Cohen said that Kennedy helped her when she was preparing her remarks.

"He was really nice. I was nervous but he and his wife Vicky encouraged me."