Port Jefferson French language teacher Heather Marshak and her students had many reasons to celebrate when they took part in National French Week recently. The francophones and francophiles decorated the halls with French culture, played French Scattegories, watched a French movie, read French ghost stories in the dark with the light from their phones as flashlights and participated in a national French trivia contest.

And that isn’t even the food (and best) part.

The cafeteria staff made ham and Swiss cheese croissant sandwiches, while the French language students worked with the life skills program in the well-stocked kitchen classroom. The French class students shared their kindness by assisting a life skills student in the skills they were learning.

And then they made crêpes.

At the same time, a Suffolk County Sherriff Department officer entered the life skills classroom for a cup of coffee. He was a guest speaker in Mr. Michael Maletta’s health classes right next door. The officer noticed that the students were struggling with something so he walked over to show them how to do it.

“There is something very beautiful about kindness born of inspiration,” Ms. Marshak said. “His job was to come in and speak to kids regarding certain topics. He was under no obligation to do anything beyond that, but he did. He was inspired to connect with them, so he found an opening to make a difference and to be of service and to just treat them as humans first. There is so much good in this world if we look for it.”

Date Added: 11/16/2023