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This year, we're highlighting what our schools are doing toward our three primary district goals: attendance, kindness, and academic achievement. Today, it's the High School East Raiders.

Raider Lighthouse sock drive photo

In the fall, a "Care Crow" was a means of spreading kindness and acknowledging those having an impact at High School East-- in the case to the right, it was teacher Jamie Blondina-- and this winter has brought a sizable sock donation for the unhoused in Ocean County (above). No matter the season, one school organization has been there to light the way through kindness. Story below.

Care Crow from fall at High School East
Care Crow for Blondina at High School East

Photos above by Allison Goodwin.

Jan. 13, 2024- For several years now, High School East has been committed to delivering character education lessons based on the ideals of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens to its students. This initiative was and remains rooted-- this year more than ever-- in an organization known as the Raider Lighthouse.

"Raider Lighthouse is a group of responsible, respectful leaders that look to act as a guiding light-- hence the name-- to educate their peers about the benefits of living these healthy habits," said Principal Erin Anders. 

The group helps design activities and implement initiatives throughout the school that will embody these seven habits, foster growth and happiness, and ultimately "make this house at High School East a home," to borrow a phrase from Lighthouse co-leaders Jennifer Fazzini and Kati Koenigstein.

This year the Lighthouse Team has supported the district’s Kindness Campaign by developing character-based activities that connect kindness to effective habits.  The month of December, for example, was themed on generosity. "Our monthly school-wide activity strove to create the connection between generosity and Habit #4, which is 'thinking win-win,'" said Fazzini. As a result, the Care Cookie Award celebrated students who solicited the most holiday donations for those in need, from its Student Council to Peer Leadership team.

Generosity + competition/the will to win = impact. It's a simple formula.

"By fostering a mindset of collaboration and mutual benefit, we can achieve more together than we could alone," said Koenigstein.

That mindset led to an unprecedented drive for a very specific article of clothing. 

Did you know that socks are the most needed but least donated items in homeless shelters?

That was the question posed by Fazzini. The Raider Lighthouse took it from there, hosting a sock drive throughout the month of December. The result? Last Thursday, the Raider Lighthouse team donated nearly 1,000 pairs of new socks to Just Believe Inc. to support their Code Blue initiative of keeping the homeless members of the community safe and warm during the brutal winter season.


With seven habits to work with, the Raider Lighthouse team is developing numerous ways to make kindness connections. They use a simple formula, but it has the school standing tall and providing plenty of light to others.