Fairhaven preschooler Hudson Richards, 4, of Warren, left, works with Future Educators of America club member and Hubbard High School student Gianna Scacchetti, 18.

NILES — Members of Future Educators of America at Hubbard High School made their second trip of the year to Fairhaven School — with a twist this time around.

The field trip originally started with club members doing arts and crafts in the school’s cafeteria with 250 students who could attend the three-hour visit.

With the club’s growth, going from eight to 12 students six years ago to 46 this year, however, club organizers sent 20 kids — two per classroom — to read to students and aid the teachers for the day.

Josh MacMillan, a Hubbard High School art teacher and FEA’s coordinator, explained that interest in working with Fairhaven started with his upper-level art students who wanted to get involved with the youth.

“I can’t remember exactly what the conversation was, but I remember one of the girls talking during class and they said they wanted to do something with young kids,” MacMillan said. “I went ‘Well, I could probably call Fairhaven and see if there’s something we could do, some way to tie it in.'”

MacMillan said he reminds his students that their presence at the school makes a big difference in students’ days regardless of whether they know it or not, as even the smallest things like creating something new can be empowering.

“There’s gonna be some kid who maybe, they just have some kind of developmental disability and they don’t necessarily look forward to anything,” MacMillan said. “But all the sudden it’s like, just working with the beads, coloring, drawing, making something — this might be the thing that catapults them into a good day and then (when) we come back in March, it gives them something else to look forward to.”

MacMillan said he thinks the experience also humbles many of his students, too.

“You think the problems you have in life are the worst, and then you come here and you see people who have a much tougher day; you see kids that are going to have a much tougher life,” MacMillan said. “I think it really does humble a lot of them; I think they get to see too how rewarding it is to do something for somebody else.”

“If they learn something in art (class), great. But if they all become better people from Day One to the last day, whether it’s a club or the classroom, that’s what matters,” he added.

MacMillan said that with their field trip expanding to two visits with the club’s growth, a spring visit in March and one in fall, it gives the students two art days and a chance to allow the ones who might miss a visit a chance to experience enrichment.

Sandra Kernan, Fairhaven School’s principal, praised MacMillan and his students for the job they do catering the visits to the kids.

“Even though we do a lot of amazing things throughout the year, this one makes a big impact and the students not only enjoy that,” Kernan said. “But if you look at the walls, if you walk through the school, you’ll see the students, the Hubbard art students’ artwork everywhere.”

FEA provided the school with 10 3-by-3 paintings and a 5-by-5 painting for the main entrance, showing scenes from the movie “Inside Out” several years ago.

Those paintings were updated after the school requested MacMillan, Kernan said, pointing out an orange painting hanging on the wall to the right of her.

“What we wanted were pictures of students with disabilities doing things, being able to, and you can see it — ‘I can be a doctor’, ‘I can be a teacher’; they’re very positive,” Kernan said.

Teri Boggs, Fairhaven’s educational coordinator for the past five years who plans to retire at the end of the school year, said they appreciate Hubbard’s students in their school.

“We get so much out of it, and I also think that the Hubbard art students get a tremendous experience from it,” Boggs said. “We’ve even had a few students that have said they want to go into special education after being here and working with our students.”

Six Hubbard students were supposed to paint a mural in two areas of the school designated by Kerman. It was canceled, however, due to a lack of location available and 10 of the 46 club members being unable to attend today’s trip.

MacMillan said they plan to move the mural’s painting on their return trip in March.