Students Donate Supplies to School

By Daniela Alvarez, Grade 10

Four Grade 10 students recently got the opportunity to deliver donations to the Escuela 24 de Febrero of El Colorado, under the direction of our teacher, Miss Lisa Schalla. Our community service project consists of buying school necessities such as CD players, basketballs and board games and other supplies with money sent from Finch Elementary School in Canada, as part of the larger program, Leer y Crecer. Leer y Crecer (Read and Grow) is a National honor Society program that began at ASPV in 2005 in order to support public and rural school children with reading opportunities and school supplies. Also, we participate in a pen-pal letter exchange between the 4th grade classes of both schools by translating the letters from English to Spanish (and vice versa) and delivering them.

As we arrived at the school in El Colorado, students and teachers excitedly greeted us. We expected a small gathering, yet they surprised us with a whole school assembly to present the gifts to the students. When we finished displaying them, one of my classmates, Paola, read a brief description of what we brought with us and explained where the donations came from, as the whole school erupted in cheers. We delivered the donations and moved on to the 4th grade classroom for the small gift bag giveaway. We made gift bags for all 38 students of the 4th grade, which included colored pencils, stickers, markers, pens and erasers. When we entered the classroom, the students sat down and we called them by name to give them their gift bags, each time followed by claps and cheers.

When it was time to go, we took pictures with the whole class, hugged the excited girls, and waved goodbye to the fourth-grade boys. The school’s director thanked us for our help and donations. It was such a gratifying experience to see how small things can bring so much joy to other students. It was a wonderful opportunity to help young people.