As students from New Castle
When Washington D.C. based artists Spilling Ink Project performed their South Indian classical dance Katha: Tales from India for the students of Laurel Elementary School in Beaver County last month it was against the odds – airports were closed across the east coast and schools were delayed across western Pennsylvania ¬– and yet the transportation fates worked in the school’s favor. Yet those challenges are inconsequential compared to the ones faced by children in needy schools across the globe – the children that are the focus of efforts by students of Laurel Elementary.
The performance was scheduled as an awareness activity for Laurel’s Ambassadors Club. A project of freethechildren.com, where children help children through education, the Ambassador Club at Laurel meets monthly to focus on ways to fundraise support to build a school in one of the world’s poorest regions. To date, the third through six graders have built schools in Kenya, China and Ecuador. This year students are rallying to build a school in India and have tied various awareness activities which are open to the whole school, like the Spilling Ink Project performance, into the theme. In addition to funds, they seek to raise awareness about sustainable development, health, education and poverty.
Tonight, Tuesday, February 15 the Ambassador Club students are hosting an art fair at the school, selling items like the garden stones they created as way to meet their $8500 goal. Just one of a number of projects, the students have also sold scented pencils, customized Silly Bandz, t-shirts with an animal mascot – this year is the Tiger to connect with India.
While the fundraising helps students gain a larger world view and learn the value of making a difference in their community and across the world, one project – Every Child An Author – has the additional benefit of contributing to students self-esteem while improving their reading and writing skills. Each year the fourth-grade students write, publish and sell a book of stories – making each of them a published author. View a video about Laurel’s project on the homepage of everychildanauthor.com.
The Ambassadors Club and the Every Child An Author project evolved out of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and the desire of Laurel students to help their peers in Louisiana. The students wrote and published the book A Gift of a Rainbow: Stories by the Students of Laurel Elementary School, which has since been sent to hurting children around the world, not just the ones who inspired it. The book raised $25,000 in 50 days and showed the school students that they indeed had the ability to effect change.
“These are the lessons that are as important as reading”, said Laurel Elementary Principal Dennis Devorick.