By Emily Ostroff, Team Leader, The Foundation to be Named Later/John W. Henry Family Foundation Boston Civic Engagement Team

There is no better way to celebrate a new City Year corps than by serving. On October 2, this year’s 140 new corps members were joined by their parents, families, friends, champions and even City Year alumni whose boots they now fill to do just that. Not only did this committed, energetic group of 350 transform and revitalize outdoor spaces in and around the Agassiz School in Jamaica Plain, they also served literally every student at the school.

Volunteers painted four giant, impressive and bold outdoor murals, revitalized a garden and outdoor classroom space, re-landscaped playgrounds and trees, installed a number of new benches and painted 12 panel murals for inside and outside the school. A large, cheerful group also made personalized packages for every one of the 560 students, emphasizing positivity and school pride.

Here are some photos from the service day; check back soon for more photos of completed projects!

Check out more Opening Day photos from Project Leader Elliot Haney here!

A number of people made this hugely successful day possible. First and foremost, we want to thank our local Opening Day sponsor, MFS Investment Management. The service projects were truly a collaboration between the Boston Civic Engagement Team and our peers serving at the Agassiz School, especially Steve, Jackie and Travis, the Agassiz’s leadership team. We also had help from the MFS Investment Management Team who serve at the Haley Pilot Elementary School; they served as Project Coordinators. The school staff, especially Principal Cordon and Assistant Principal Dr. Prince, made sure our projects were exactly what the school needed, and custodians Henry and Steve were immensely helpful and patient with all of us. Our work in the garden and outdoor classroom came about largely thanks to Ms. Harris, the school’s science specialist, and Nancy from the Arnold Arboretum. Shout out to my wonderful team, who not only injected massive amounts of creativity into these projects but worked day and night in adverse weather to bring them to fruition…and to Mollie, our program manager, for the innumerable miracles for which she is responsible. And of course we cannot thank enough the enthusiastic folks that came out to volunteer and made all the work happen, many of whom came from MFS Investment Management.

Special thanks to Boston Public Schools Facilities Department and Boston Parks and Recreation.