Press Releases

ACES Mill Academy Students Learn and Celebrate during Day of Kindness

February 19th, 2019

(North Haven, CT. February 19, 2019) This past Valentine’s Day was especially sweet for the students at the Area Cooperative Educational Service’s (ACES) Mill Academy as they gave back to the community on its annual “Day of Kindness.” Students earned points since the beginning of the school year for designated projects and activities. They were then able to use their accumulated points earned throughout the school year as admission to the Kindness School Carnival. Organizer Erika E Henley said this year’s theme was “Kindness Counts.”

“In a world that is not always kind, at ACES Mill Academy we are continuously striving to not only teach kindness, but to model it as well,” she said. “This year marks our 3^rd annual Kindness Carnival. Students were able to use their accumulated points earned throughout the school year as admission to the Carnival. Students enjoyed a video game truck, bounce house obstacle course, bowling, and snacks. This is a great way to make learning fun.”

Throughout the day each class participated in community service activities. Classes collected pet food and made dog treats for the local animal shelters, collected diapers for the Connecticut Diaper Bank, made “kindness” bags of items for the area’s homeless shelters. Dozens of students made Valentine’s Day projects for children at Yale New Haven Hospital. In the school’s recreation room dozens of students worked on various “kindness-focused” crafts activities. All during the day, pupils and staff discussed the many ways of showing kindness within the school and to each other.

The event involved students, staffs, and all interested volunteers. The event was promoted and celebrated through social media by using the #KindnessCounts hashtag so the event’s goodwill and good deeds could be share with the rest of the community. Plans are already underway for next year’s event.

Knowing that all children have the ability to be successful, while accepting each child’s individual differences, ACES Mill Academy fosters the development of our students academically, behaviorally and therapeutically to the extent that each child realizes his or her own self-worth as an independent, self- motivated, responsible learner who possesses the ability to make good choices in order to become a more productive, contributing member of society.

The Mill Academy serves 153 students, grades 4th through 8th grade, who are identified through the PPT process as students who need a more structured program to help them with academic, social, emotional and behavior issues. All students are processed through the PPT system by their district.

About ACES:

Area Cooperative Educational Service’s (ACES) is to transform lives through education, innovation, and leadership. One of six Connecticut regional educational service centers, ACES is the regional educational services center for the twenty-five communities in New Haven and is both a school district and a non-profit services agency. ACES serves 2,300 students from fifty-seven communities throughout Connecticut at its three magnet schools and nine special education schools. ACES service divisions include international educational programs and services, technology, transportation, translation, behavior services and autism programs, extension therapy services (occupational and physical therapy), assistive technology, collaborative programs, professional development, human resources and financial services, and ACCESS, a vocational and life skills program for developmentally and physically challenged adults. ACES also runs the Open Choice program for New Haven County as well as a magnet school parent choice program for its Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School and Thomas Edison Middle School. Additionally, ACES runs the Middlesex County Early Head Start Partnership program. For additional information, go to www.aces.org.