By Karla Fonseca
Staff Writer
The Student New Jersey Education Association (SNJEA) hosted the first ever Pack-A-Back Event on Oct. 5 to support Ewing schools. The event began with attendees each taking a backpack and adding various school supplies, including pencils, pens, notebooks and folders. In another room, attendees wrote encouraging notes addressed to students of the Ewing schools.
SNJEA is a student organization of the College that promotes professional development for future educators. It is a local chapter of the New Jersey Education Association, which is a labor union for supporting educators in their careers. Together, they aim to uplift future and present educators in achieving their goals.
Co-sponsorships for this event included Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), the International Education Honor Society of the College, Circle K, College Mentoring Union (CMU) and Teachers of Young Children Association (TYC). Members from the listed organizations were encouraged to donate supplies and attend the event to show their support.
Circle K, although not an education-oriented organization of the College, still supported SNJEA’s event to support the community.
“We chose to sponsor this event because it aligns with our service tenet as it’s about giving back to our immediate community or Ewing community,” said junior finance major and Circle K president Aditi Priolkar.
Attendees of the event responded well to the goal SNJEA was trying to achieve and showed their support through donating and participating.
“I donated a lot of stuff,” said sophomore elementary education math major and CMU co-president Fernanda Mendoza. “I am so excited to give back to the Trenton community. [Our club] mentors students from Trenton, and we love to be able to help them.”
Many students who attended this event are education majors who are required to participate in practicum and internships at local school districts, a number of which occur at the Ewing School district. For that reason, students feel a genuine connection to the wellbeing of the students in Ewing.
“I just want to be a part of something that does good and gives back to the community we’re a part of,” said junior psychology and elementary education major Emily Maya. “We’re super fortunate to be able to work with kids for our practicum and student teaching which are all really relative to the area. I think it's super important whether it's SNJEA or any other organization to help out.”
Students looking to get more involved with SNJEA can find more information on their instagram, @tcnj_snjea.
The executive board of SNJEA posing with the completed 35 backpacks (Photo courtesy of Tori Gladstone / News Editor).
