East Hampton High School's Justice League club is acknowledging definite victories during uncertain times in a new initiative celebrating students and "bringing out their best," Aubrey W. Peterson said.
The high school senior and president of the club organized an inaugural school survey with the club's vice president, Juliana Lester, in order to choose two students working "to bring about a positive school environment."
Earlier this month, Jerry Simons and Cole Benedict, who are seniors, were chosen for their significant work at the East Hampton Food Pantry, a small satellite of which is at the high school. Jerry raised close to $10,000 on GoFundMe, while Cole has devoted a nine-hour day every week to help with food distribution during the pandemic.
"I was very honored to receive recognition from our high school's Justice League, and I am so glad to see how much the Justice League does for recognizing and encouraging students' contributions," Jerry said.
With a QR code that people can scan with their phones in order to reach the East Hampton Food Pantry donation page, Cole has had great luck securing donations, too. As student president of the food pantry since 2018, "I've learned that the easier it is for people to help, the more likely they will help."
"So this is true for a lot of schools," Juliana said in explaining the impetus of the club, "students are recognized for academic and athletic achievements, and we wanted to recognize students who have done something other than that, something to honor their high-quality character traits."
On her own time, Juliana has been doing impressive work herself. She has just finished the first version of a website that shares research on anxiety and depression. She went into it "with the intention to educate parents and teens about mental health and provide resources."
"This month happens to be community-service driven," said Carolina Fermin, an East Hampton High School social worker and adviser to the club, "but the award could be for a cool art show, a band — we thought picking two seniors was a good way to start."
Aubrey's father, Aubrey H. Peterson, is also a social worker and adviser to the Justice League, which was formed in 2012 to honor a student who died from suicide. He encourages the club to find creative ways to address student needs. "We've done a lot of different things, from creating outdoor learning and relaxation space, to creating a meditation space, to mental health awareness weeks, and our most recent initiative was to create this community spirit board," he said.
Jerry and Cole were "the standouts" this time around, but the club is keeping a running list of nominees to pick from every month.
It was important to give students the attention they deserved by way of something more than a cork board, Mr. Peterson said. In consulting the Borders Picture Framing and Gallery in East Hampton on what that might be, the owners, Dan Meeks and Sylvia Flender, went right to work building and donating "a beautiful, custom frame with a lock on it and black background," he said.
The law firm Tarbet & Lester heard about the club's work and donated Starbucks gift cards for anyone who wins a Justice League award.
In the same spirit as the initiative itself, it "was nice that it's been a community effort," Mr. Peterson said.