News!

If you would like your Children's Day activity to be featured in this page, please Register Your Activity!

Nashua, NH

From the Nashua Telegraph Newspaper:

Kids count in Nashua

Teen is driving force behind city's first Children's Day

By ANDREW SPINALI Staff Writer

NASHUA – Samita Mohanasundaram knows what parents are thinking when they hear about a proposed national children's day.

"Every day is children's day!" she exclaimed, mimicking a mother's voice.

But that won't stop Mohanasundaram, a junior at Nashua High School North, from seeing that Children's Day becomes a nationally recognized day.

The first step in that process will be Saturday, when the city will host its first Children's Day.

"Children are the leaders of tomorrow, so I feel that we need to educate and inspire and recognize children around the world," Mohanasundaram said.

While most kids are probably hoping that Children's Day would grant them a day off from school with prizes such as homework passes, that isn't exactly how the day works.

Mohanasundaram has been urging local businesses to contribute to the event by offering discounts or coupons to children who visit their stores that day. In addition, she suggested that local businesses set up informational tables in their stores.

The Children's Day Web site, www.mychildrensday.com, also has tips on how people around the city can help out.

"My main goal is to work with regular people to see how they can influence students in their own community," said Mohanasundaram, who has been involved in community service for more than nine years.

The unofficial headquarters of the day will be at Greeley Park, where Mohanasundaram has teamed up with Lights On After School, a nationwide event that emphasizes the importance of after-school programs by having a carnival free to the public, with food, games and prizes.

This is the fifth annual Lights On After School event in Nashua. According to Nashua's recreation program manager, Tom Dwane, Mohanasundaram received permission from the city to join forces with Lights On After School so she could further promote Children's Day.

Dwane, a Lights On After School committee member, said the recreation department is encouraged by Children's Day's potential.

"Anything we can get involved in to recognize kids, we're excited to do," said Dawne, a Nashua recreation employee for five years.

The city was so eager to become involved in the Children's Day project that it appointed Christine Lister, Nashua's child-care coordinator, to help Mohanasundaram plan the day.

Lister has been impressed with Mohanasundaram's dedication and direction.

"I was asked to work with her on the event, but she's really the lead," Lister said. "The city is here to support her in her efforts. I know it will be small beginnings, but she has terrific visions of how (Children's Day) could be down the line."

Becoming a nationally recognized day will be a long and arduous process. Mohanasundaram said she appreciates all of the help she has received from the city, including Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, who issued the proclamation that officially recognized Children's Day in Nashua.

Mohanasundaram hopes the first Children's Day will be a success and possibly expedite the process of national recognition.

"We're working through the state to make this a nationwide day," Mohanasundaram said. "It's going to start in Nashua, but spread throughout the whole nation."

While she is enthusiastic about the possibility of the idea spreading, Mohanasundaram also understands it's a long process. She anticipates that the idea of Children's Day will first have to disperse throughout the state and then bordering to states before it reaches the national level.

Regardless of how long it takes, Dwane believes Children's Day is an idea that is worth seeing through.

Children's Day "should be nationally recognized," he said. "Anytime you can recognize kids, it's a good thing, and I'm all for it." 

© 2007, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire

Editorials

She’s not kidding on Children’s Day

Today Nashua, tomorrow the nation. That’s the rallying cry of Samita Mohanasundaram, an ambitious Nashua High School North junior who is the driving force behind the city’s official recognition of Children’s Day this coming Saturday.

On that day, she will team up with the local organizers of Lights on Afterschool, a national celebration championed by the Afternoon Alliance that’s intended to raise awareness of the importance of after-school programs.

In Nashua, that event will be marked with a free carnival at Greeley Park, and that’s where Mohanasundaram plans to set up shop to promote her Children’s Day idea.

While she is pleased by the city’s support for her idea, Mohanasundaram doesn’t intend to stop there.

Her goal is to make Children’s Day a nationally recognized day.

“Children are the leaders of tomorrow, so I feel that we need to educate and inspire and recognize children around the world,” she said in a front-page article published in The Sunday Telegraph.

If Mohanasundaram’s name sounds familiar, it’s no accident.

Two years ago, she was among four individuals or organizations recognized as regional honorees in Make a Difference Day, a national call for public service sponsored by USA Weekend magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.

Mohanasundaram was recognized for playing the veena, a classical stringed instrument from India, at some local retirement and nursing homes.

She also is the author of “Education Corner,” a weekly quiz that runs each week in The Sunday Telegraph’s education section.

For those of you who think Children’s Day is little more than a public-relations gimmick to get a day out of school, think again.

On the Children’s Day Web site (www.mychildrensday.com), would-be participants are encouraged to sponsor an activity that day that either inspires, educates or recognizes children.

Among the suggestions cited:

• Professionals can explain what they do in their line of work to children at schools, libraries or community centers.

• Cities and towns can sponsor fairs and other community events that put the emphasis on education.

• And communities, organizations and schools can recognize children by awarding prizes.

A day set aside to recognize children is not without precedent.

In 1954, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution recommending that all countries observe Universal Children’s Day.

In the United States, President Bill Clinton proclaimed Nov. 16 as Children’s Day in 2000, while President Bush has issued proclamations for National Child’s Day for the first Sunday in June since taking office in 2001.

For its part, the city has responded to Mohanasundaram’s call to action.

Mayor Donnalee Lozeau issued a proclamation designating Oct. 18 as Children’s Day in Nashua. In addition, Christine Lister, the city’s child-care coordinator, is helping her to make plans for the day.

While no doubt thankful for all the help and support, Mohanasundaram is under no illusions that elevating Children’s Day to a permanent spot on the national calendar will be an easy task.

But what will happen Saturday in Nashua is at least a start.

“We’re working through the state to make this a nationwide day,” she said. “It’s going to start in Nashua, but spread throughout the whole nation.”

Given her resolve, it might not be wise to bet against her. 

© 2007, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire   

If you would like your Children's Day activity to be featured in this page, please Register Your Activity!