By Ryan King ’16, Edited By Dylan Kenseth ’14 and Brendan Hellweg ’14

When Greg Mortenson came to our school on November 9, he left us with a desire to better our community. I felt that way personally. In the follow-up period after Mr. Mortensen’s tremendous speech, my instructional tennis group wanted to aid our community in a noticeable way. We chose to make art for the children at Bay State Children’s Hospital in Springfield. The children at this hospital experience scarring treatments and potentially life-threatening surgeries. These children face tough long waits until their surgery and are often bored. My tennis group wanted to change that.

We constructed all sorts of arts and crafts for the children. For two hours we made goodie bags, plastic flowers, and paintings. The goodie bags were made so the children will have something to do when they are waiting for treatment. The plastic flowers are going to be used as a pleasing decoration for the children in rehab. Finally, ceiling tiles were painted so when the children are wheeled down the hall, flat on their backs on gurneys, they can see pleasing images above them that take their minds off the situations at hand. After this experience with my tennis group, I began to understand that the small things we do can brighten the lives of children in pain. Greg Mortenson builds schools. We may have built a few smiles.