Schiesher Fifth Graders Raise More Than $2,500 for Kenya Connect

from District 202

The Schiesher Elementary School fifth graders have done it again! 

For the third year in a row, the students have participated in a service learning project for a non-profit organization called Kenya Connect.  This organization builds and maintains schools in Kenya and encourages personal relationships between the students by offering a pen pal program.  Over a five week period, the students have learned about the country, people, land and cultures of Kenya, Africa. Speakers, as well as a Zumba teacher, came to our school and gave the students an introduction to African dance when we kicked off the program in November.  The students were hooked on this project immediately and as an end result truly came through for the students in Kenya.

The goal of the Lisle fifth graders was to provide financial support to their new Kenyan friends by raising money for water tanks, supplies and/or school uniforms.  They earned this money through a program their teachers have created called “Pennies for Pages.” 

Students asked their family members and friends to pledge one penny for each page they read during a six week period.  As they read each week they documented the number of pages on a recording sheet.  The students of Schiesher, as well as their family friends, should be extremely proud of their accomplishments.  The fifth graders read 164,585 pages which is a new record and raised more than $2,500!  This money will be put to good use and we could not be more proud of our fifth graders.

At Schiesher, It is our theory that children who are exposed to cultural diversity at a young age are more accepting of all people, regardless of race, culture or educational background.  This in turn promotes global communities into our future.  In addition, it is our hope that this project will develop greater connections between our students and the community as a whole.

We celebrated our Kenya Connect project on Dec. 8 with whole classroom rotations where the students participated in African activities such as story telling, poetry, African dance, games, and a market simulation.  A group wrap up was held along with a great big drum roll as we revealed the pages read and grand total of money raised. 

 Another successful year was had and we look forward to seeing what we can achieve next year!