Anya Marquardt, a senior at Hicksville High School, spearheaded an...

Anya Marquardt, a senior at Hicksville High School, spearheaded an art donation drive that collected 15 boxes worth of supplies for the Hospice Care Network. Credit: Marquardt family

A Hicksville student who attended bereavement groups with her sister after the death of their father devised a way to give back to the organization that helped them.

Anya Marquardt, a senior at Hicksville High School, spearheaded a donation drive in the spring that collected 15 boxes worth of art supplies, including crayons, markers and glue, for Northwell Health's Hospice Care Network.

“It was a lot more than I expected," the 16-year-old said of the donations. "I was just so emotionally moved by it.”

Marquardt and her younger sister, Emeline, attended the network’s bereavement groups in Woodbury once a week for about six months after their father died of cancer of the appendix in 2013. Participants engaged in such activities as art, creative writing and open discussion. 

“They really helped with my grief,” Anya Marquardt said.

For the drive, which lasted about six weeks, she set up five collection boxes in the high school, one in Hicksville Middle School, one in Fork Lane Elementary School, and one in a local dance studio. She plans to coordinate another collection this school year.

Marquardt is president of the school’s newspaper, president of the National English Honor Society, and a member of the National Honor Society and honor societies for art and social studies. She also is in her school’s Model UN Club.

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