Shorewood Middle School Students Making a Difference, Half a World Away

Each week, Shorewood Patch selects individual kids, youth groups, teens, and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments for our Whiz Kid feature.

This week’s Patch Whiz Kid is a group of kids who have initiated a service project at Shorewood Intermediate School. The seventh grade world geography class is bringing water to the Kenyan village of Sigowet. The group is raising money to bring a pump to the village and educating the community, in the process.

The class came up with the idea, to bring fresh, clean drinking water to the rural village, which is the childhood home of the mother of one of their classmates.

“This came about during our Africa unit when we were studying natural resources and their relationship to the lives of people in various regions of Africa,” teacher Sarah Kopplin said.

Kopplin has taught at Shorewood Intermediate School since 2003 whose academic focus on geography continues to motivate students to use their education to make a difference. She is also the head varsity cross country and track & field coach at the high school.

With this project, the students have a outlined two goals for the Kenyan Village water project: to affect change in one village in Kenya, and educate the Shorewood and greater community about the problem facing rural people in Africa including no access to clean drinking water, and the effects of this on the literacy rate of women and girls in the region. Not only does the lack of drinking and clean water affect the culture, it falls to the women and girls to provide it, which greatly hinders literacy amongst that population.

The group’s mission will be to raise funds to assist the purchase of a water pump to access water from the ground from an aquifer, purify it, and then store it so running water can be obtained for the village.

Kloppin said the group has impressed her. 

“They are in the beginning stages but have created a website, planned two fundraisers, and are working steadily to do more for this project,” she said.

What started as a geography lesson has turned into a “classroom effort and there are some students who really have taken natural leadership roles and they have done some pretty incredible things,” Kloppin said.

“It is a true testament to the dedication, hard work, and commitment our staff displays every day,” shared Anthony Strancke, Principal.