So far with this pen pal program, we have enlisted several volunteers... about fifteen students and three or four teachers. There are about 30 students in Africa who we would like to pair with the same number of students here. There are even teachers over there interested in messaging some of our teachers! This project is going to be a very cool experience for everyone involved. We are waiting for more information on the people that we are going to be in this project with, that way we can pair people and allow everyone to know a little bit about who they are writing to. We are also working to figure out a way to get donations to the cause, since malaria is so widespread and treatable. We really want to get money for them, but we are not sure how to do that quite yet.
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Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking and debating several different project ideas. These ideas have been a talent show, a "color dash", helping a Navajo tribe, and pen pals with peers over in Africa. I liked most of these ideas, so I tried perusing them. The talent show was very interesting to me, but from the beginning it had many logistical challenges. It was very hard ... impossible ... to find a day and time that nothing else going on. So, we chose a date that had the least going on. It was going to be on a Friday evening because we did a quick poll in our class and everyone said they would be more likely to go on a Friday evening rather than a weeknight.
We talked about the talent show idea with the staff member who would know most about it, and he made it seem like there would neither be enough time nor enough volunteers to make it happen. That was understandable, we did not realize how much planning and time went into an idea like this. Considering all that was needed and the relatively little amount of time we had left, we decided to not go through with the idea. A peer's brother is the dean of students in the Southwest United States at a school on a Navajo reservation. Our peer thought it would be great to try and help them in several ways, whether it be collecting donations or communicating with the students. These ideas were great, until the contacts at those schools were too busy to get involved with a program as such. The color dash idea was one that would be a fun, exciting event while involving the community (if we are able to advertise enough!). Our school's Student Council has brought up the idea of a Color Run before, but it's a task that will likely take daily work, which Student Council may not be able to coordinate. So, with several peers, we decided to help the Student Council with this. So far, we designed a flyer which will be posted around the school and community to advertise and get people involved. I am optimistic about this, because often short runs like this one have a good amount of participation. With the "Pen Pals in Africa" idea, we have contacted someone working over there as a nurse to see how we could help. She mentioned that the students would love to do a pen pal program with us, and we are very excited. Now, we have to gather numbers from the school over there to see how many volunteers we will need on our end. This shouldn't be too hard, considering there are many many student here in New Palestine who love to help others. Another way we will help them out is by posting flyers around the school and community with information about how and why to donate to these people. There is a link which will lead someone to the site, and it is easy from there. I am looking forward to helping people and getting more involved with the community over the next several weeks. |
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