NHS Honor Society Partners

With Autism Awareness Foundation

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School Honor Society members waiting in the hallway of the school on Wednesday, April 21, during the school’s spring break; all had different reasons for wanting to be a part of the new “Jones Initiative,” but all agreed on one thing: they wanted to help the cause.

The initiative came together when NHS parent Linda Jones approached the group with a vision. Ms Jones is the mother of three children, Austin, an NHS Honor Society member; Lindsay, an NHS graduate; and Tyler, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old.

In October 2008, Tyler launched T.J. Designs, his own company that sold his personal handcrafted beaded creations and promoted autism awareness. The then-16-year-old, with his mother, promoted autism awareness through T.J. Designs by selling the beaded jewelry and handing out brochures, which he helped create. Just over a year later, Tyler died.

“I was diagnosed with this puzzling disorder when I was two years old,” the brochure reads. “I cannot talk but I communicate with sign language, pictures, and a few words. I have started my own jewelry business to show others that I can have a job that I enjoy doing. I also want to help teach my new friends about autism.”

Ms Jones had previously worked with students at Pomperaug High School to help promote autism awareness, before bringing her vision to NHS. Since first approaching the NHS group, she said, the students have been great.

Society members came up with the name to call their parent meeting groups, FUN [Families United in Newtown] — A Recreation Foundation in Memory of Tyler Jones.

The meeting groups will be for parents of disabled children in Newtown, and will start holding sessions at Newtown Youth Academy when the Honor Society has raised enough money begin. To help parents attend the meetings, Honor Society students will volunteer time to watch children.

Society member Josh Engler said he wanted to help with the cause because he wanted to help bring something big to the community. Fellow society member Brian Reed said he wanted to help because the group meetings would help both the students with disabilities and their parents.

“I thought it was a really good cause,” said Brian, “because some children don’t always get the same opportunities we get.”

Samantha Kent said she wanted to help after meeting Austin Jones and learning about the cause from him. The process started a few months ago, she said, when Austin approached the group asking for their involvement.

“We want people to know about it,” said Ms Jones to the group on Tuesday, “because if they don’t know about it, they won’t come.”

Under Ms Jones’s direction, the Honor Society members created pins out of Shrinky Dink on Wednesday.

Getting the Honor Society involved, Ms Jones said, also helps the students learn how to set up a program and how to run it.

April is Autism Awareness Month, as Ms Jones explained to the students, and starting the process of selling pins and raising money this month is appropriate.

Individually students worked to cut out and create the Shrinky Dink pins that showed the recreation foundation’s logo, created by Honor Society member Zach Bokuniewicz

The eventual group meetings will be free for the parents involved; for more information email funfordisabled@gmail.com.