NBHS students off to bigger Destinations

BY ELISA KROCHMALNYCKYJ

NEW LEADER CORRESPONDENT

NORTH BROOKFIELD — A “Destination ImagiNation” project — which started with six North Brookfield High School students making quilts for families in Chile and ended with one of the students hand delivering the quilts — is getting national attention. “We are just ecstatic,” Principal Robin Whitney said after the project took first place at the Destination ImagiNation state tournament March 26 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “Now we will compete in a global tournament in May. We will literally be with kids from all over the world.”

To participate in the competition, the Destination ImagiNation team had to find a service project connected to a local organization. The team of six girls — Valerie Avery, Sarah Garrow, Breanna Harding, Emily Hildick, Rebecca Kaplan and  Samantha Kaplan — decided to join up with the First

Congregational Church of West Brookfield, which has an outreach program in Chile. “The girls learned how to sew, then how to quilt, and they

made seven quilts — six to send to Chile, the other to raffle off as a fundraiser,” Whitney said.

As part of the endeavor, dubbed “Sewing the World Together Stitch by Stitch,” the  girls held a “Chili for Chile” fundraising dinner and, between the two fundraisers, were able to send Samantha Kaplan to Chile to deliver the quilts.

Samantha, whose trip was part of the church missionary group, delivered the quilts, and then stayed 10 days doing mission work in one of the villages that still hasn’t recovered from a February 2010 earthquake. Whitney said that even before the group entered the statewide competition,  she was deeply impressed with the remarkable group of girls. “Regardless of the outcome, I was so proud,” she said.

The next step is for the group, accompanied by Whitney, to head to the global tournament, being held at the University of Tennessee at the end of May. They’ll be joined by competitors from all over the world. “It’s going to be incredible,” Whitney said, then paused. “Oh — we need to raise $5,000 for the trip, so we’re looking for community help. And any donation will be greatly appreciated.”

Donations can be sent in care of Whitney to North Brookfield High School, 10 New School Drive, North Brookfield, MA 01535.