The Katharine Matthies Foundation on Tuesday awarded a $43,000 two-year grant to the human relations clubs within the Ansonia and Derby school systems.
James Hodge, a Katharine Matthies Foundation board member, announced the grant at a breakfast recognizing the work of the clubs, which involve about 250 students in high schools and middle schools.
Local officials joined students and school leaders at Ansonia High School for the breakfast, which was planned by the clubs’ students.
Retired Hamden educator Nick Collicelli of Ansonia founded the human relations club in 2007 in Ansonia at the urging of Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone.
Collicelli had started a human relations club at Hamden High School in the 1980s.
Merlone, who had just become superintendent in 2007, asked him to bring the concept to Ansonia.
So he did.
Collicelli said the Matthies Foundation’s $43,000 gift is the largest ever received by the clubs, which have been funded since 2007 mainly by the Valley Community Foundation, from whom the club received a $28,000 two-year grant it is completing this month.
He said the Matthies grant will provide a vital boost for the group.
“When I started the organization eight years ago it was my hope to not only be able to start a Human Relations Club in Ansonia but to eventually integrate more Valley schools into the HRC network,” Collicelli said. “The merging with the Derby school system has successfully taken place and some students from Shelton High and the Shelton Youth Service Bureau will join with the Ansonia and Derby students this year.”
He said the grant will go toward things like middle school anti-bullying programs, kindergarten and fourth grade teaching at Mead and Prendergast School in Ansonia and Bradley and Irving Schools in Derby, intergenerational work with the Doyle and Derby Seniors Centers, and community cultural/enrichment programs.
Beyond dollars and cents, Tuesday’s event offered a powerful example of the club’s good work through the words of a Derby High School junior who spoke movingly about bullying she endured in another school district before moving to Derby.
Her troubles began with cyber-bullying when she was in the sixth grade, she said.
In seventh grade, the bullying “became physical,” and by ninth grade she was being sexually harassed by classmates.
“Middle school was an emotionally taxing time for me,” she said.
She expressed her gratitude for the club and thanked Derby High School club advisor Deborah Almonte and Collicelli for their guidance.
“My experience is life-changing,” she said.
Derby High School Principal Greg Gaillard told students “passion and grit will help you get to the finish line and steer you toward your career path.”
He challenged students to take their “passion and grit” to inspire others, and encouraged them to think about their legacy and how they would want to be remembered.
“What would be the very first adjective next to your name?” Gaillard asked.
Derby Superintendent of Schools Matthew Conway told club members they have “an amazing impact on their community.”
He said what’s important is “what you’re doing when nobody is watching.”
Valley Community Foundation President Sharon Closius said, “We are all called to be there for one another.”
“You’re showing your love,” she said. “Keep up the good work. You really are making a difference.”
Hodge, of the Matthies Foundation, said that when he grew up in Bridgeport, there were no such things as human relations clubs.
“Our neighborhood was totally integrated,” Hodge said. “We worked things out on the baseball field.”
But since then, he said, times have changed, and lauded the work of the club to help students who are growing up in a different environment these days.
Ansonia High School Principal Joseph Dobbins said, “The partnership with Derby has been a positive experience for all of our students.”
