Ah, victory. It’s fleeting to be sure, but sweet nonetheless, for teachers at Research and Service HS in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Several times a year they invite 1st- and 2nd-graders from nearby PS 5 to the school, where the teenage students design and teach lessons and do hands-on projects with the adoring younger students. This winter, the project was creating and decorating snowflakes and reindeer. “The little children are so in awe of the big kids and the big kids learn how to mentor, teach and encourage the younger kids,” says Research and Service science teacher Ashley Brown. The panther is the school’s mascot, so in addition to winter’s Panther Claus, there are Panther Scare for Halloween and Panther Easter Egg Hunt. For the elementary school crowd, there is no such thing as too many Panther events. “Many of our kids live in transitional housing, so connections are important to them and they make them with the high school kids,” says PS 5 Chapter Leader Shawndel Stewart. “Our babies come back from the events singing and happy and proud to show off what they made or learned from the big kids.” Equally important, if more subtle, is what happens to the teenagers. “They feel needed,” Brown says. “That’s a big deal.” The students at Research and Service, a transfer school, go there for myriad reasons, but the major one is they are in danger of not graduating. Many come from troubled homes, foster homes or homeless shelters. All come for a fresh start. Brown, the chapter leader, and the other adults at the school are steadfast in their mission to create a safe and transformative environment for the students. “Our kids come in with super defense mechanisms,” says Brown. “It’s our job to remember that life has not been easy for them and to see past their hard exteriors and into the soft hearts they’ve had to keep hidden.”