Message of lasting power underscores Aldrich positives

John Howell
Posted 9/18/14

Philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein brought his message of personal power to two Warwick schools Tuesday to cheers and a few shouts of “We love you.”

“The power you have to put smiles on …

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Message of lasting power underscores Aldrich positives

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Philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein brought his message of personal power to two Warwick schools Tuesday to cheers and a few shouts of “We love you.”

“The power you have to put smiles on people’s faces…there’s nothing more powerful,” Feinstein told Aldrich seventh-graders.

Dressed in black slacks and wearing a gold jacket, Feinstein entered the auditorium from the rear, reaching out to touch the hands of students from either side as he made his way down the aisle.

“You’ve got a rock star with you,” Principal John Livsey told the students. The room grew suddenly quiet. Students focused on the envelope Livsey held and what he had to say.

The school has introduced four guiding principles for student actions – the Aldrich 4 As – that are displayed above the main school entryway. The As were introduced last year by Allison Nascenzi, acting principal at the time and currently assistant principal, as a means of promoting positive attitudes and actions among students.

“It seems we focus too much on the negatives,” said Livsey, “punish, punish, when we have good things happening.”

The A’s are Always be respectful; Always put forth your best effort; Always have integrity; and Always take responsibility. When a teacher sees a student performing any of the principles – for example, helping a student who has just dropped their books – they can choose to put their name on a card that goes into a drawing for prizes like an iCard.

Nascenzi saw the program as paralleling in some ways what Feinstein is seeking to accomplish and applied for Aldrich to become a leadership school, Livsey explained.

At Tuesday’s assembly Nascenzi and Livsey talked for a moment about integrity.

“Integrity is doing the right thing,” Livsey told the students. Then, holding up the envelope, he announced that as an Alan Shawn Feinstein Leadership School, Aldrich received $10,000. There were cheers and applause.

Livsey said yesterday the money would be used to buy items for the A program as well as equipment and materials for classrooms. An example of what the school might acquire is a “Hovercam,” a device that enables a teacher to work on a student’s paper while projecting what is being done on a board in front of the entire class.

Aldrich and Wyman Elementary School, which Feinstein also visited Tuesday, are two of 146 leadership schools in the state. Wyman is one of the first Feinstein schools in the state and continues to be involved in Feinstein events, such as the drive to collect non-perishable foods.

Feinstein presented Wyman with a $2,000 check.

The money was secondary to Feinstein’s visits. He made little mention of the money at Aldrich, concentrating on reaching the students on a personal level. He asked how many were Feinstein scholars. Most in the audience raised their hands. Feinstein estimates about 100,000 Rhode Island students are Feinstein scholars.

His message is of helping others and doing good deeds. Students are recognized as Feinstein Junior Scholars and are given club cards that provide them and an adult free admission to the Mystic Aquarium, the Providence Children’s Museum, Battleship Cove and a number of other local attractions.

Feinstein said he quit his business 25 years ago and started visiting schools to spread the challenge to perform good deeds and better the lives of others. Now he devotes his time to his philanthropy.

His efforts include the food challenge initiated in 1997 with the first million-dollar food challenge to Rotary International. Feinstein matched up to $1 million of the money raised by Rotary clubs across the country to fight hunger. The Rotary clubs raised $2 million. The challenge led to the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America at the University of Rhode Island and has raised more than $2.5 billion for anti-hunger organizations throughout the country, according to Feinstein.

Feinstein told students no one can ever take away their power to help others.

“It is the only thing you can take with you,” he said. Holding up a scholar club card, he said, “When they see this card, they expect you to be somebody special.”

Feinstein also spoke of leadership schools in foreign countries including Haiti, Nicaragua and Honduras and how, even though English is a foreign language to them, they carry a message in English recognizing the good deeds of Feinstein scholars in this country.

“These are boys and girls you will likely never meet,” he said, “and they love you. You are heroes to other people.”

He urged students to live up to that expectation.

As he left walking up the aisle he had used to enter the auditorium, Feinstein had one parting word for the students.

“I love you guys,” he said.

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