Rationale
Students quite obviously have more than one dimension. Outside of academics, sports, and activities related to school, there is another budding dimension which is difficult to immediately assess, but may greatly influence the course of a student’s life and the lives of others. This is the dimension of character. The seeds for this dimension are being sown and watered during elementary years, but usually bear fruit in adulthood.
Reflection
I sometimes wonder if my messages and lessons are truly getting through to my students. There were no such doubts about the message Elvis Donkoh delivered during his visit to Berwick Academy, however. Elvis is from Ghana and is the founder of an orphanage there for children who have lost their parent to AIDS. His message: HIV / AIDS effects everyone.
In one way, I know this message was received because I felt it personally. It would have been difficult not to react as Elvis related the story of a child who had died because he had been born with HIV / AIDS and the $5/month for the medicine that would have saved his life could not be raised in time. Many of my students were still wiping tears away as we walked back to class, and, once back in the classroom, struggled to grapple with the emotions that Elvis’s life and death stories had stirred. Reviewing math homework suddenly seem less pressing while considering Elvis’s message. My students were upset, but also driven to balance the injustice by helping Elvis and his cause.
That’s the other way that I know Elvis’s visit had a lasting affect: the sixth grade held several fund raising events after his visit and raised over $2500 to help build a roof for the new orphanage. By the end of Elvis’s visit, there were 20 sixth grade volunteers to organize and promote both a yard sale and a car wash to raise as much money as possible for the orphanage.
His visit this year was serving two functions. First, he was returning to Berwick Academy to thank the eighth graders who had helped him raise over $2200 last year, enough money to feed all of children in the orphanage for 10 months. He was also trying to raise enough money to pay for a roof on the new orphanage (see You Tube video at bottom of page).
The other compelling aspect of Elvis’s visit was that he and his cause had been discovered by a Berwick Academy alumnus. As the director of the middle school pointed out, it is a very proud moment indeed, when a student returns to the school to raise money for a worthy cause like The House of Hope.
Students quite obviously have more than one dimension. Outside of academics, sports, and activities related to school, there is another budding dimension which is difficult to immediately assess, but may greatly influence the course of a student’s life and the lives of others. This is the dimension of character. The seeds for this dimension are being sown and watered during elementary years, but usually bear fruit in adulthood.
Reflection
I sometimes wonder if my messages and lessons are truly getting through to my students. There were no such doubts about the message Elvis Donkoh delivered during his visit to Berwick Academy, however. Elvis is from Ghana and is the founder of an orphanage there for children who have lost their parent to AIDS. His message: HIV / AIDS effects everyone.
In one way, I know this message was received because I felt it personally. It would have been difficult not to react as Elvis related the story of a child who had died because he had been born with HIV / AIDS and the $5/month for the medicine that would have saved his life could not be raised in time. Many of my students were still wiping tears away as we walked back to class, and, once back in the classroom, struggled to grapple with the emotions that Elvis’s life and death stories had stirred. Reviewing math homework suddenly seem less pressing while considering Elvis’s message. My students were upset, but also driven to balance the injustice by helping Elvis and his cause.
That’s the other way that I know Elvis’s visit had a lasting affect: the sixth grade held several fund raising events after his visit and raised over $2500 to help build a roof for the new orphanage. By the end of Elvis’s visit, there were 20 sixth grade volunteers to organize and promote both a yard sale and a car wash to raise as much money as possible for the orphanage.
His visit this year was serving two functions. First, he was returning to Berwick Academy to thank the eighth graders who had helped him raise over $2200 last year, enough money to feed all of children in the orphanage for 10 months. He was also trying to raise enough money to pay for a roof on the new orphanage (see You Tube video at bottom of page).
The other compelling aspect of Elvis’s visit was that he and his cause had been discovered by a Berwick Academy alumnus. As the director of the middle school pointed out, it is a very proud moment indeed, when a student returns to the school to raise money for a worthy cause like The House of Hope.