Why We IGC: Maple Hill Junior Senior High School
Each month leading up to IGC 2024, we are highlighting the educators and schools that have been instrumental in inspiring and motivating their students to support clean water projects in South Sudan. Next up is another long-time supporter, Maple Hill Junior Senior High School and 7th Grade English Teacher Christine Fowler!
Maple Hill Junior Senior High School has participated in the Iron Giraffe Challenge since the 2015-2016 school year. As a result, they have raised over $6,700.
Christine shared, “I learned that WFSS was founded in Rochester which is about 3 1/2 hours from my school in the Capital Region. It was 2015, and Salva was going to be there for a Walk with Water. We chartered a bus, and off we went!”
“We have a Walk with Water at School. In 2022, we partnered with the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club. The 7th graders presented about the IGC at one of their meetings. Together, we decided to have a Bowl-a-Thon. Our second annual bowling event will be held on April 14, 2024.”
“As the 7th graders walk through our school hallways or around our school grounds carrying one to two gallons of water, they understand the physical endurance needed to collect water in South Sudan. As they grasp the amount of time it takes to collect water, they appreciate that they can use the water fountain at any time during the course of the school day. The idea of going to school is seen through a different lens after reading about others who don't start school until age ten or never have the opportunity to go at all. Participating in an experience that can lead to others their age gaining an education is meaningful.”
“Participating in the IGC builds empathy and expands my students’ knowledge of global cultures. ”
Christine continued, “This year, we read a September 2023 newspaper article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Jimmy Carter's efforts to eradicate Guinea worms. It was an excellent way to connect current events and another form of writing to our study of A Long Walk to Water. As students wrote "Elevator Speeches" to request donations to the IGC, they could reference both articles and information from the WFSS website. (An "elevator speech" is a short presentation that can deliver an idea in about the time it takes to ride an elevator.)”
“Each year, as we finish the book [A Long Walk to Water] and my students understand that Salva is a real person, I show them the 2015 photo of Salva and me in Rochester. Watching their faces and hearing their voices as they exclaim, ‘You met Salva?!?!’ is pure joy.“
We are so inspired by Christine and the entire Maple Hill Junior Senior High School family. Thank you and your students for sharing your time, passion, creativity, and dedication to making a difference in South Sudan.
Join teachers like Christine and register for the Iron Giraffe Challenge today to have fun while making a local and global impact.
