Christian Brothers Academy held its first official Senior Service Day at the nearby Shaker Heritage Society Wednesday, Oct. 15, giving the students a chance to delve into a piece of local history.
By 11 a.m., CBA’s senior class had already cleaned up broken doors and furniture, carried exhibition items to and from the basement and filled a 30-foot County Waste dumpster to the brim.
“This is the first year we’ve done this Service Day with an eye for this kind of work,” said CBA Campus Minister and Theology Department Chair Owen O’Leary.
Back in 2012, CBA senior Zach Stanton, an older brother of one the students helping at the Heritage Society, organized a service day for the Schoharie community, which O’Leary said was a big hit.
“The people of Schoharie loved it because they needed the help,” O’Leary said. “But this is the first time we’ve planned it as a school with an eye for doing it in the future, and had it on the calendar as a mandatory event.”
Starlyn D’Angelo, Shaker Heritage Society’s Executive Director, thanked the CBA students. The Society, located a short drive away from CBA’s campus near Albany Airport, has worked to preserve one of America’s oldest Shaker settlement sites. But with a small staff of four workers, the Society sometimes finds itself reaching a limit.
“We don’t have a maintenance staff,” D’Angelo said, “so this is what we rely on. It improves our function. Only through these partnerships are we able to make significant progress here. The students were able to learn about the place and make contributions.”
While the Society has had volunteers come before, such as the Girl Scouts and other classes from school trips, it’s a rare occurrence that such backbreaking work can be accomplished.
“They’ve just been cleaning. There’s been stuff in the attic for years. This was a good opportunity to get everything cleaned up,” said Shaker Heritage Society Education Director Samantha Saladino.
“They’ve taken trash from the attic and barn, they filled that dumpster and they organized the education space,” Saladino explained. “Some of them have helped set up for the Christmas Craft Fair, which is our biggest event, so we really appreciate that.”
Although at first uncertain of the work they would be doing, the CBA students quickly found themselves fascinated by the history lesson they received while cleaning.
“I love it,” CBA senior Gregory Rudolph said. “We were all kind of unsure at first, but I think that everyone’s having a blast. We saw how they’ve preserved this all. It’s really lovely here.”
In between cleaning rooms, Saladino led the students around the site for quick lectures on each building’s history, from what the Shaker’s used the space for to rumored hauntings.
“It’s really great, too, because the Christian Brothers Academy is located on former Shaker property. We can teach them about this local community and history,” Saladino said.
“I think it’s great to learn about the local history,” said Lorenzo Horvath, another CBA senior.
Many of the students recalled previous elementary school field trips, but the Service Day allowed them to submerge themselves in the history of the buildings and many found it interesting to see how people lived.
“I’ve been going to CBA for almost six years,” Horvath said. “I’ve driven by this place every day, and it’s really great to finally learn what it’s all about. It’s great to be able to help out.”
