Recently at the Tower School in Marblehead they held a Friends of Our Troops event. This is an annual community service event that supports our troops by creating care packages and thank-you letters. The Tower School students were joined by other students who are part of Friends of Children-Boston to create 150 care packages. These packages were sent to US troops overseas and will be received, hopefully, before the holidays.

As Don Souter, a Tower parent, said, “Tower School is committed to providing opportunities for students to contribute meaningfully within their school, community and the world. Working with Friends of Children-Boston, an organization that has done so much to help the students of Boston, provides opportunities for Tower students to build lasting friendships across communities and creates wonderful community-service activities — helping to let our troops know that we care.”

As the Friends of Children-Boston Executive Director Michelle Harrington said, “We are incredibly grateful to the Tower School community for making these service events possible. This partnership allows children from different communities to learn from each other and give back together.”

For all the actors out there – the Story Theatre is having a workshop for girls and boys 6-10 on Sunday December 7th from 1:30-5pm. It will take place at the Chabad at the North Shore in Swampscott.

The children in the workshop will create short plays from children’s story books and will also learn some acting skills. They will work on strengthening their concentration and on developing their imaginations, in addition to other techniques.

At the end of the session, the plays they create will be performed for parents, relatives and friends. Miriam Eyges, who is the producing director of the Theatre of Light, will run the workshop. The enrollment will be limited to $10 kids and there will be a small fee of $45 to participate. Check it out here for more information: theatreoflight@comcast.net

On Thursday, October 16th, Katie L. Geer was at the Village School where she graduated. The North Shore native has created a business lecturing about Internet safety. With her private business, she offers seven different talks for students in kindergarten through college tailored to each audience’s needs.

She explained that fourth to six grade students need to relearn the idea about not talking to strangers. Since strangers today can hide behind their online identity, it’s an entirely new concept to understand and practice. She explained that middle school is not too early a time to start to talk about the perils of social media.

She explained “The number-one thing is just that parents need to pay attention.” She discussed the shocking statistic that, on average, children aged 8-18 spend 7.5 hours a day on some device or piece of technology.

The Marblehead School of Ballet has reason to dance. They are celebrating their 43rd anniversary season with a full and fantastic lineup of classes for 2014-2015. Their application process for scholarships is now open, awarding scholarships to dancers ages 12 to 21 to study ballet.

As Paula K. Shiff, director of the Marblehead School of Ballet said, “The scholarships are open to dancers who have a passion and dedication for ballet. This is a great opportunity to study with a highly trained and experienced staff.”

Shiff calls their program a “Dance oasis on the North Shore” and explains that MSB provides weekly classes in ballet, pointe and variations. There are pre-ballet classes, creative movement classes, modern and jazz, belly dancing, zumba, pilates and more.

As Shiff explained, “The seasoned dancer will find high-quality training at MSB. The internal mechanics of the body are emphasized and not the superficial aspects of style, bringing the dance to a higher level.” She continued, “To teach this way and for the dancer to work this way, one sees and feels the true joy of movement,” Shiff said. “This foundation is the heart of the dance.”

On Sunday, September 23rd, the Marblehead Family Fund had their Touch a Truck event. Hundreds of children came to explore the heavy machinery and vehicles and to have fun. They raised over $3800 dollars for the Family Fund as well. Bob Donovan of Donovan Landscaping donated all of the construction vehicles and worked to prepare for the event. The Marblehead Police and Fire departments, the Cataldo Ambulance, US Roofing and the Marblehead Parks and Recreation Department were all helpful as well.

The hot dog lunch was provided by Derrick Topp.

On Sunday, September 14th, the Marblehead Festival of Arts announced the donation of a beautiful Benson Seamans sculpture, a harbor seal, to the town. The seal, titled “Winslow II” is a donation from both the Seamans family and the Marblehead Festival of Arts. It will be installed in Crocker Park as part of the MFoA’s 50th Festival Celebration. The dedication ceremony will be next spring. As one article explained,

“‘Winslow II’ will be a contribution to Marblehead’s history, a symbol of celebration and commemoration for the abundance of art within the town, including 50 years of Marblehead Festivals of the Arts and the Seamans’ long history of community commitment.”