When St. Mary’s School’s 7th graders learned that four of 10 Africans live on less than $2 a day, they set about creating responses to this continent-wide challenge.
Some would ship fish from Madagascar. Some would train teachers. Others would help farmers with soil nutrients. Still others proposed ways to build hospitals and provide medical care.
All of these projects were part of a weeks-long endeavor in Language Arts in which students first researched about the causes and effects of a lack of food, medical, and health resources in sub-Saharan Africa, wrote papers about one of those challenges, and then proposed responses by creating their own non-profits.
They learned how to write a letter to a donor asking for funds, and finally presented persuasive speeches to their classmates seeking support for their project.
“These challenges are also being tackled by the United Nations,” said student Braden Kobenia. “So it was interesting to learn how the UN responds as well as think about ways I could respond.”
Braden created a non-profit that would ship fish from Madagascar. Fellow classmate Kaitlyn Becker proposed a way to train teachers in Africa and then have them return to their villages to equip students. Julia Maylock created a non-profit called Health Problems No More and proposed a way to transport people to health clinics. Their projects were in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a program with 17 goals seeking to end world poverty by 2030.
“Building students’ writing and research skills is fundamental to any Language Arts class, but also being able to also build empathy and awareness among our students made this project valuable to our learning goals at St. Mary’s,” said Kim Kenneson, a middle-school teacher who created the project a few years ago after visiting the United Nations in New York City. “We want to mold students at St. Mary’s such that they truly know they can make a difference.”
St. Mary’s School operates on a continuous enrollment model. Enrollment for next year is filling up quickly but there are still some spaces available. If you’re interested in taking a tour of St. Mary’s School, please contact the admissions office at (423) 282-3397 or at admissions@stmarysjc.org.
Read More: St. Mary’s students tackle global poverty challenges | Appalachian Highlands