SHS Successfully Runs Fifth Annual Non Sibi Day of Service

Non Sibi, or “not for oneself alone,” is the District’s motto that was fervently brought to life during Scarsdale High School’s fifth annual Non Sibi Day on May 22nd, 2026. Every year, students organize and host an array of activities that cultivate community, responsibility, volunteerism, and empathy. These activities range from the Brook Clean Up to Therapy Dogs and Dog Toy Making.

This year, students could choose from over 60 unique workshops to attend throughout the day. Some of these sessions were Bracelet Making for Pride Flags that Aren’t Represented Regularly, Building Community Through Improv, Building Toys for Salvation Army, Cookie Decorating for WJCS with the JCC, Collage for a Cause, Guiding Eyes for The Blind, and Quilt Making for Refugees.

During a productive “Brook Clean Up” hosted by Project Green, students spread out in groups to tackle all sections of the brook that traverse the high school parking lots. Over time, leftover trash and litter from lunches had flown into and accumulated in the water. Using nets, grabbers, gloves, and trash bags, Project Green club members and workshop attendees gathered up practically every last bit of garbage from the brook.

The Mental Health Awareness Club led “Therapy Dogs and Dog Toy Making.” Besides destressing from interacting with the dogs, students also learned about the differences between therapy dogs and service dogs and the various ways they support mental health. When not petting the dogs, students made dog toys from used clothing for donation to a local animal shelter, Humane Society of Westchester in New Rochelle.

In “Bracelet Making for Pride Flags that Aren’t Represented Regularly,” Glowing Impacts spread awareness on under-represented pride flags and their meanings. Attendees made bracelets with colors corresponding to different flags, such as the agender flag and sapphic flag. The club will be donating all the bracelets to an LGBTQ+ nonprofit, Center Lane in White Plains.

Reading Buddies organized “Goodie Bag Building,” where students packed back-to-school gift bags for elementary schoolers at public schools in Yonkers. In the session, students decorated bags, colored bookmarks, wrote good luck cards, talked about their favorite books, and packed toys. Reading Buddies club members travel to Yonkers weekly to read and do homework with these students, and will be giving these bags to them at the start of the next school year.

With frosting and knives in gloved hands, attendees of “Cookie Decorating for WJCS with the JCC” created their own designs and applied those designs to sugar cookies. The Jewish Culture Club (JCC) sold the decorated cookies during the Community Time club fair. All proceeds made from the sales will be donated to the Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS).

Scarsdale Robotics ran “Building Toys for Salvation Army,” where students produced customized wind-up toys. Each student was given the same wind-up toy base, and from there they covered the top of the base with clay shaped into facial features, drew details on the clay using markers, and added feet to the base. The club also provided students with food coloring to make the toys pop and look fun before donation to the Salvation Army.

Inviting SHS art teacher Ms. Elizabeth Colleary to “Quilt Making for Refugees,” the Human Rights Club explained the refugee crisis through a short presentation while Ms. Colleary expanded attendees’ knowledge of quilt production and art history. Attendees were supplied with pieces of fabric by the club and sewn quilts that the club will donate to the nonprofit Wrap the World With Quilts.

The Girl Up Club arranged “Collage for a Cause,” where students gained knowledge about influential women and made empowering collages. Aiming to promote sustainability and foster creativity and teamwork, the club had students sit in groups and distributed printed photos and scrap materials to use in the collages. Each collage highlighted famous inventions designed by women. To spread these messages of encouragement beyond SHS, Girl Up will be donating all completed collages to the Scarsdale Public Library.

Clusters of attendees gathered around service dogs during “Guiding Eyes for The Blind,” which was coordinated by the HELP Animals Club. While meeting and adoring the service dogs from the nonprofit Guiding Eyes for the Blind, attendees also discovered more facts about the dogs and made toys for them.

The Breast Cancer Awareness Club planned “Pink with Purpose.” Students crafted cards, origami, and bracelets, and decorated pink ribbons for those affected by breast cancer at White Plains Hospital. Alongside enjoying pink cupcakes and pink lemonade supplied by the club, students carried out acts of kindness that were just as sweet.

Beginning the workshop with an introduction of pressing New York State legislation that affects students, the Policy Action Club established a base for discussion for their session, “Effective Political Advocacy.” The club then transitioned into a lesson on writing letters to legislators, teaching attendees a tool to help make their voices heard. Attendees also partook in a discussion-based activity where they split into groups to brainstorm an issue of their choice and their proposed solution.

The Linguistics Club set up “Warm Words for Wise Hearts” to reach out to isolated senior citizens by writing in their native languages. Since many of those elders don’t frequently see others, the goal of students’ work was to bring them comfort, especially due to how rare communication in their native languages can be. The club asked for students who knew Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Korean, French, German, or Italian. But they welcomed any student who wanted to help, regardless of what languages they knew.

“Improv is Life,” according to “Building Community Through Improv,” which was led by the Drama Club. Explaining improv’s application in everyday conversations and regular social situations, SHS performing arts teacher Ms. Barbara Malecki delved into the history of improv and how it has been used to build a safe environment and trust in theatre. Attendees participated in a couple of improv activities and learned how improv could help foster confidence, friendships, and fun.

The French Club organized “Bookmarks for Brighter Days” to lift the spirits of patients at White Plains Hospital. Besides decorating bookmarks and writing English and French messages on them, students expanded their knowledge of French. They were exposed to entertaining expressions in French and their English translations.

Community Time in between the second and third workshops gave students an hour to enjoy time with their friends and support club fundraisers. With board games, arts and crafts, backyard games, and sports including soccer, football, and frisbee as options, students could decompress and catch up with peers. Clubs raised funds for 18 different charities by selling food, drinks, crocheted items, stickers, ceramics, and more to students.

After attending a multitude of sessions, students went to their class activities. A new addition to Non Sibi Day, these class activities were the last workshop students attended. Each grade had their own distinct events, and students enjoyed spending time with their classmates.

In the cafeteria, all freshmen worked with the club Habitat for Humanity to package sandwiches for a local food bank.

The sophomore class went outside to play games, listen to music, snack on popcorn, and paint rocks to help adorn the high school with inviting decorations.

Juniors engaged in a walkathon on the track and brought canned or boxed food to donate to the organization Feeding Westchester.

The work put into setting up and running Non Sibi Day can be attributed to both the Non Sibi Day Committee composed of faculty, and its lesser known student counterpart. Two lead committee members, Ms. Kimberly Summerfield and Mr. Ethan Paul, shared their thoughts on how the day went:

Ms. Summerfield said, “I think one of my favorite things is standing in the hallway between periods and I just ask, ‘What was your favorite session?’ The excitement of whatever students are talking about, whatever they did, or can't choose one because they like all of them, makes me happy. They're doing a good thing by doing service for others, and they're enjoying themselves and just being a teenager in the process.”

Mr. Paul commented, “I think that the biggest thing is, it's a total change of the energy of the school and everyone's a bit looser. People are having fun and that we can do that while also helping others. I think that oftentimes at Scarsdale, and I went to Scarsdale myself, we can get so focused on having to ‘get this done and get through it.’ And so being able to open that focus up is really nice.”

Their thoughts were evidently echoed in the feedback of students and teachers alike. As several students and teachers passed by, Ms. Summerfield and Mr. Paul would ask them how they felt about the day. There was no shortage of positive remarks and smiles. The two committee heads also revealed that students can stay tuned for potential changes to Community Time. In the end, Non Sibi Day has been and will continue to be an essential event at Scarsdale High School.

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