Hartshorn, Afghanistan to Connect on MLK Day

When Hartshorn Principal Ron Castaldo learned his school would be one of two in Millburn where students would have to attend class on Martin Luther King Day to make up extra “snow” days as a result of the October snowstorm, he decided to do something that would honor Dr. King’s legacy.

“We tried to figure how we could honor Martin Luther King’s birthday while at school and learn something in the process,” Castaldo said. “So we decided to turn the school day into a day of community service.”

On Monday when Hartshorn students in Short Hills are in school while others have the day off, they will be boxing up items to send to soldiers in Afghanistan through Operation Shoebox.

And because one of those soldiers in the Paladin base in Afghanistan is Castaldo’s 28-year-old niece, Capt. Karen Berggren, the students will get an opportunity to talk to her and fellow soldiers via a Skype connection in the cafeteria.

“One of the things that has really been special is seeing how excited the soldiers are,” Castaldo said. “They really care that we care.”

Students will spend the morning boxing up wool socks, snacks, toiletries and other items into shoebox care packages for the soldiers. Then afterward, they will gather in the cafeteria to call Capt. Berggren.

On Friday, while a students in a P.E. class played ball in the cafeteria, Castaldo with technology teacher Eric Demel and Craig Scolarice of tech support,  performed a test run with the base in Afghanistatan.

Because the district needs additional bandwidth and because Capt. Berggren was on a computer with a slow connection, she was a bit blurry and the sound was breaking up, so they were able to make some adjustments and arrangements to make it work better on Monday.

Some children have already turned in questions and Capt. Berggren is going to answer those questions on the call on Monday. Castaldo told her if the connection is good on Monday, he may have students come up to the microphone and ask the questions themselves.

“Whatever makes them happy,” she said. “We’re really looking forward it here.”

"It's amazing that we're talking to her and she's in Afghanistan and it's nine and half hours later there," he said. "Amazing."

At the Millburn school board meeting this week, Superintendent Dr. James Crisfield commended Hartshorn students for their hard work and Castaldo for coming up with the idea.

“There will be a world of learning going on that day,” he said.

The students will also spend part of the morning reading a book on Martin Luther King’s life.

“The question is always how to make learning meaningful, and if we can also build into that compassion, caring and respect, then we’ve done our jobs,” Castaldo said.

The project has managed to do something else for the students as well – make them excited about coming to school on a day when everyone else is off.

“We know there will be some people who won't be in town and won’t be here, but anyone who is home this weekend will make a point to be in school on Monday,” Castaldo said. “They’re very excited about it.”