Girl Scout troops in Lake Highlands will canvass the neighborhood during October for donations to the Clothes Closet, a project sponsored by the RISD Council of PTAs.

The closet, located in a warehouse at 970 Security Row, provides low-income children in pre-school through high school with clothes for school. Clothes for all ages and in all sizes are needed.

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

Each student who qualifies to utilize the closet receives five outfits, one for each day of the school week, that are new or in good condition, says Patti Winstanley, with the PTA Council. Families make appointments through a counselor in order to get clothes from the closet.

Older Girl Scout troops will focus on getting clothes for junior high and high school students, says Becky Knickle, the Girl Scouts service unit manager for troops in Lake Highlands.

Knickle said it is easier to get donations for younger children than it is to get clothes for junior high and high school students.

Donations are also encouraged from neighborhood clothing stores, Winstanley says.

To find out about the Girl Scouts’ clothing drives call Becky Knickle at 503-9115. For information on the Clothes Closet, call: 301-3440.

Fun at School

School can be fun and teach students about real life. That is the lesson in Hamilton Park Pacesetter’s Friday School, a six-week minicourse program for sixth graders.

Each student takes six minicourses over the course of the year in such subjects as endangered species, woodworking, cooking and sports math, according to science/math teacher Jeannie Castaneda, who instructs an environmental minicourse.

Courses are held every Friday afternoon at the elementary, and each six-week session culminates in a special field trip related to the course’s subject matter.

Courses are taught by parents, community residents and staff members.

“By the time some students get to the sixth grade, they lose interest in school,” Castaneda says. “This is a way to infuse them with the fun of learning and tie what they are learning to real life.”

Band Named National Champion

The Lake Highlands High School Band was named National Grand Champion Concert Band at the national Musicfest competition.

The band competed against 300 bands from across the United States to win the title in a 13-week competition in Orlando, Fla.

“The band members even gave up holidays to rehearse for this competition,” says Marion West, LHHS band director. “We are fortunate to have such dedicated and talented kids in the music program here.

“They worked very hard to earn enough money to enter this competition,” West says. “The banner will look great in our band hall and will be an incentive for our new band students this year.”