Student Contributor -A. Davis
The project I did was collecting pens and pencils in class with my students. I worked with the organization Right to Write which takes new or gently used pens and pencils to children in schools, hospitals, and orphanages in underprivileged countries. My students were each asked to bring in or find 10 pens or pencils over a weeks time. 200 fit into one ziplock bag which is their preferred way of shipment because it fits so easily into suitcases.
The students brought in the pens and pencils after we learned about the way children live in different countries. The students were either able to bring in a new pack of pens or pencils or find ones that they have not used. As a teacher I would make an agreement that if we got over 200 pens and pencils and needed to start another bag, I would contribute the amount needed to fill the rest of the bag. This was a service because it helped students overseas. This was powerful for the kids because it is teaching them empathy and is a good social studies lesson about other places in the world. It also got them excited to help other people.
The part that worked well was that students were very excited and engaged, they went above and beyond what was expected for this project. One thing I had to modify was students being really excited and bringing in items that were not new or gently used because they wanted to contribute whatever they could.
A Hernandez
This took place in an Urban demographic, the way I did this project was with college students in my organization with roughly about 5 students. I also collected pens and pencils and partnered with “Right to Write” which was able to take new and gently used writing utensils. Our overall goal was 100 pens and pencils as a group and let them know the student who brings the most pens and pencils would get a surprise gift. I gave the group roughly 2-3 weeks to bring pens and pencils as a donation.
On the last day I gave a small presentation to the group of students on where the pens and pencils will be going to and what the “Right to Write” is about. We ended up making a total of 400 pens and pencils new and used to send. I also made a pamphlet for my organization to refer back to and also have something to show what they were contributing to. Their excitement and conversations showed that they were really amazed that this was even possible to do and how much we were able to get in total with just a group of 5 people.
What worked well was setting up reminders for my organization with letting them know what was coming up and the prize that would be included for participants. I thought it was a great contribution and a good cause that my organization felt was a really good idea and wanted the information to keep it going.