The Kennedy School’s indoor and outdoor spaces were colorfully updated during the school day on Friday, September 20 during the second City Year/Biogen Care Deeply day of service in the district in as many weeks. Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, district Assistant Superintendent Chad Mazza, and several other Kennedy School and Somerville Public Schools staff offered words of appreciation to the City Year and Biogen team members during the opening ceremony.

Then Biogen and City Year workers broke into work teams. One group painted bright images of the Kennedy tiger on walls in the gym and outdoor lot. Another refreshed the four square and hopscotch games on the blacktop and repainted a world and U.S. map. Inside the building, a Biogen team assembled a new rowing machine for the Wellness Room, which also received a fresh coat of paint on the walls for meditation and relaxation, and a focus wall mural of blue mountains. Other teams worked on new coats of paint and murals in other areas of the school to provide a more calming feel, in line with the school’s focus on wellness and mindfulness.

As Sharla Randazzo, director of the school’s social emotional program, explains, “The Kennedy School benefitted from the hard work and dedication of an amazing team at Biogen and City Year who worked to make our social emotional wing more relaxing and welcoming. All of the calming areas have warm and cozy rugs to give students a much-needed space for a break and to encourage the use of self-regulation strategies.” The feelings of gratitude ran both ways. At the closing ceremony, one Biogen colleague said of the Kennedy School, it was “amazing and inspiring to see education in action.”