West Islip’s Pair of Water Winners

West Islip High School seniors Taylor Sorice and Alicia Villafana, who serve as co-presidents of the school’s West Islip Thirst Project club, were honored as award winners at the Thirst Project’s seventh annual Thirst Gala on June 13 in Beverly Hills, California.

The Thirst Project is the largest student water activism charity in the world, and each year it honors a student who has embodied its goal of bringing awareness to the global water crisis. The charity chose to honor not one but two award recipients this year in light of the West Islip students’ shared leadership, in a ceremony live streamed on the Internet on June 13.

When the school year began last September, Sorice and Villafana’s stated goal was to raise $24,000 to fund two fresh water wells in Swaziland in southern Africa, and they are well on their way, having raised $21,000 by May. The water wells are sustainable and will last indefinitely for the communities in which they are drilled. Access to clean water vastly improves community health and quality of life by allowing children and women the time to focus on attending school and working to support their villages and families.

According to West Islip Thirst Project club adviser Paola Nilsen, since the club’s inception in March 2012, it has raised over $49,000 to help the estimated 663 million people worldwide who lack safe water sources. West Islip has drilled wells in Uganda, El Salvador and Swaziland, as well as providing 19 families in India with Biosand filters.

“Taylor and Alicia have been an integral part of our success for three years, organizing fundraising events, recycling empty bottles for cash, running our biweekly meetings after school, and spreading awareness about the benefits that come from global awareness and altruism,” said Nilsen. “Both of these young ladies are the epitome of selflessness and dedication to a greater good.”