Three of Manville’s 10th grade students, Melanie Alcantara, Victoria Dzuba, and David Peterson participated in a six hour info session and training program for a non-profit organization called Comfort Zone Camp or “CZC” for short.

CZC provides grieving services to children and young adults who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. CZC offers free weekend programs where children are paired with a “big buddy” and have a weekend of both fun camp activities and grief related programming. The weekend is facilitated by volunteer mental health professionals and also utilizes volunteer junior counselors to help the weekend run. Each camp weekend needs more than 70 volunteers in order to operate. Melanie, Victoria, and David all trained and are now ready to volunteer at one of the several camps offered in NJ in 2020.

Mr. and Mrs. Pycior, who work at the Manville School District, are both volunteers at the program and can attest to the level of participation and enthusiasm that was shown at the training. The three MHS students received information regarding the program during their AP psych class. Melanie, Victoria, and David all took advantage of the opportunity to learn about this important topic. They gave up an entire Saturday to drive to Basking Ridge and learn more about the program. This willingness to give of themselves not only reflects positively on their character but also reflects positively on MHS as a whole.