Character Education is a flourishing club at New Providence High School, with an ongoing impact on the community. Members give back to our school and town through volunteer opportunities and assisting with events in the community. 

Some of the bigger events that they have helped run are the Shining Star basketball games and the Giving Garden, in addition to helping at food banks or running things at the school. 

For the Shining Stars game every year, Character Education helps to raise money through fundraisers, selling tickets, designing and selling shirts and helping at the actual game. 

At the Giving Garden, Character Education members helped to clear off gardens that grow food for the homeless community, a non profit organization. They plowed the dirt, pulled weeds, moved supplies, planted vegetables and crops, mulched the area and watered a lot of plants. 

On March 17th, their most recent trip there, the Character Education club went back to one of the local food banks in Hillside, NJ. They helped to organize and package donated food. This included making boxes, unpacking food, taping boxes closed, moving boxes to the correct locations, checking expiration dates and weighing out all of the correct distribution amounts. 

Throughout these various events and volunteer opportunities, the Character Education members have been able to help many people in need. 

The main adviser for this club is Ms. Noppenberger, who is assisted by Mr. Henry, Mrs. Kwiatkowski and Mr. Carangelo. 

One of the students that contributes a lot to the club, Hannah Ocello, is a senior at New Providence High School. She has been a part of Character Education for all four years while being at New Providence. 

Ocello said that her favorite part of Character Education is “going on field trips to be exposed in new ways to contribute to the community and the communities around us.”

She said that she loves to be part of the club because it allows for great opportunities to give back. 

Ocello just pulled together the trip to the food bank. She reached put to the head administrator and scheduled the trip to get the students to be able to come. 

Another very active 4 year member of Character Education is senior Grace Kelly, who also has been in the club for four years of high school. 

“The club offers many opportunities to giveback and it was something I definitely wanted to be a part of,” she said. 

Kelly said that her favorite activity throughout the club so far has been the Giving Garden.

She said: “I got to spend time with my friends while giving to the community and the environment” 

Character Education is also a very flexible club, open to any possible ideas to fundraise, raise awareness for important topics, volunteer and help others. Most of the events held and contributed to are run by students that are members of the club, directed by Ms. Noppenberger. Character Education helps to deepen the connections between students, the town and the community of New Providence.