Impact Chess at Robbins Elementary School (Trenton, NJ)

March 15th, 2022

During their winter breaks, Impact Chess volunteers gathered around the entrance of the Trenton Arm In Arm office to move the 63 donated chess sets to Robbins Elementary School, just down the block. In attendance were: Winston Ni, Steven Li, Andrew Dai, Raghav Sharma, and Eric Wu.

Volunteers and parents entered the school cafeteria and set up 4 chess boards. When lunch time came for the students, they entered the lunchroom and crowded around the boards. IC members taught the students the basic moves of chess, and some students were brave enough to challenge the volunteers to games. A 3rd grader said that their dad and brother were chess parents, and that they taught him how the basics of the game; he played a game with Eric. Each grade had its own turn in the cafeteria, and every student saw the green-and-black boards set up on the tables.

After the last group left the cafeteria, IC students and parents worked together to unpack the 63 chess sets—boards, pieces, and carrying bag. After half an hour of work, all 63 chess sets were prepared to donate to the Robbins School community. 45 sets were given to families who opted for the free resource, and 17 sets—one for each classroom—remained inside the school.

After 3 hours of teaching, cracking jokes, and moving chess sets, the volunteers were all tired, but proud of their impact on the students.

(No photos were taken inside the school to respect the privacy of the students.)