Vernon High students serve as mentors, tutors and painters, too

Vernon — The Vernon Township High School chapter of Pass it Along has been hard at work. Every Monday, 10 students travel to Franklin Elementary School to be mentors and tutors for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Every other Tuesday, the Girl Power group meets with girls from Pass it Along and eighth-graders at Glen Meadow School. The older girls conduct group discussions and activities related to various subjects relevant to the lives of an eighth-grade girl. On the Martin Luther King Day of service, 14 members of the VTHS chapter set out at 7 a.m. to P.S. 33 in Jersey City to paint murals in the café of the school. The walls started out a dirty white and after the day of work came out beautiful and refreshing. They then held a Martin Luther Day service at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark. Several members of the VTHS group performed songs and readings of inspiration. They returned to Vernon tired, covered with paint, and filled with the feeling of joy and accomplishment.