Congratulations to the 2016 Peace Leader Award winners:
Eastern Technical High School, Baltimore County, Maryland
The book Three Cups of Tea has inspired many people in many different ways with the message that one person can have a profound impact on the world. In 2004, Todd Wade, a teacher at Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, was one of those people. After reading the book, he approached his students with an idea for a brand new service learning club that would help students better understand the value of building peace through education. This club was called the Pennies for Peace Club, and Tom encouraged his colleague, Frank McGrath, to help develop the club. Read more…
2016 Peace Leader Award Winner Eastern Technical High School, Baltimore County, Maryland
Eastern Tech is a highly regarded career magnet school in Baltimore County, led by new principal, C. Michelle Anderson. Eastern Tech has a very diverse student population that includes a growing Hispanic and Muslim community as well as an established African American community. The school thrives in a working-class neighborhood, where families have for years made their living in shipyards, at a now closed General Motors factory, and at Western Electric. The school’s current student population is also an economic mix from students who experience period of homelessness, to students who are bussed to the school from affluent neighborhoods.
The Pennies for Peace Club at Eastern Tech started slowly, one penny at a time, with just one fundraising event during its first year. Over the years, the club has grown by leaps and bounds. Student members encourage all faculty to keep penny jars in their classrooms, allowing any student or member of the school community to donate spare change. Using educational materials from Pennies for Peace, the students were trained to make presentations on the work and the goals of the organization. This year, Eastern Tech’s Pennies for Peace Club maintains a table twice a week during lunch periods to collect donations and provides information about the program. They even have their own student-designed t-shirts! “My students are very conscientious and really take ownership for the club,” said Frank. “They inspire their classmates to get involved, too. Girls education is very important to them.”
As interest in the club grew, so did the students’ interest in getting involved in other humanitarian causes within the community. For the past two years during the Christmas holidays, Eastern Tech’s Pennies for Peace Club has donated a portion of their funds and collected toys and household items for the Baltimore County Family Crisis Center. The Crisis Center houses women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. This past December, they organized an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest and donated the proceeds to the Center. Students hope to expand this type of community outreach as they grow the Pennies for Peace Club.
Since starting the club, Todd has moved on to another school, but Frank’s passion for his students and this project remains strong. Upon learning that his school had been nominated for the Peace Leader Award, he was excited for his students to be recognized for their inspirational work. “They go out of their way to help people,” Frank said.
Frank is a veteran teacher who has taught for 43 years. “I thoroughly believe in the idea of peace through education, understanding, and educating women. Bombs just compact terrorism. Education is the key to peace!”
“In the time I have left in education, and in life, I want to make an impact on students. I want to be a positive influence,” Frank says. There is a quote made by one of Frank’s personal heroes, Robert F. Kennedy, which he uses a lot. “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” Frank hopes this effort will create a ripple at Eastern Tech.
Cathedral Catholic High School, San Diego, California
Christine LaPorte began her career at Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, CA where she spent eight years teaching mathematics to high school students. Christine’s students came from diverse backgrounds, including first generation immigrants from Mexico, and about half benefited from the free and reduced lunch program. Read more…
Meet 2016 Peace Leader Award Winner Christine LaPorte
“After reading Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, I will never see the world the same way again. My heart yearns for these children on the other side of the world who desperately seek an education and don’t have the means or resources they need. In America, we sometimes take for granted our easy access to quality education. As a teacher, I can expose my students to content outside of just mathematics curriculum. Pennies for Peace provides the perfect opportunity to teach kids about global solidarity and how they can play a part in becoming active citizens,” said Christine.
Christine was looking for a creative way to introduce the Pennies for Peace program to her students. She created a classroom charity using the program. At the beginning of each year, Christine showed her students the Pennies for Peace video and explained the value of a penny both in the United States and in Central Asia. Her students learned that they could buy a pencil for $0.25 here, but that same quarter could buy 25 pencils for students in Central Asia. She placed a piggy bank in her classroom and students donated their spare change to buy pencils for children half way around the world.
“My students really enjoy knowing that they’re helping others. They even donate their lunch money at times!” Christine is not only building global community awareness, but she is helping her students become more philanthropically minded.
“I’m trying to plant a seed. To build awareness about what is happening in other parts of the world – especially in places where girls are denied an education. At some point, that seed will grow and my students will become mindful, giving adults,” said Christine.
Christine says the program is easy to use in her classroom and her students respond to the messages in the videos. “They understand where their donations are going,” she said. Christine also partnered with her local Rotary Club to identify schools in Afghanistan. Christine’s students communicate throughout the year with students at schools in Jalalabad, and once a year speak over Skype, which is always a wonderful experience for all of the students, and helps Christine’s students to better understand what education is like in Afghanistan.
Christine started a new adventure this school year. She is now teaching at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, where she will also be using the Pennies for Peace program. “Pennies for Peace is a simple way to make meaningful connections with another culture across the globe,” she said.
Highland Elementary School, Riverside, California
Denise Allen is a 6th grade elementary school teacher. She currently teaches at Highland Elementary School in Riverside, CA, just 20 minutes from San Bernardino. The children at Denise’s school understand cultural diversity because they are growing up in neighborhoods of varying ethnicities. Read more…
Meet 2016 Peace Leader Award Winner Denise Allen
“As a teacher, it broke my heart to think of those children in Korphe who wanted so badly to learn that they sat in the dirt and did their lessons with sticks in the cold ground. My students are not rich by any means, but they have so much more than many others. And I wanted them to understand there is a world outside of their own.”
Denise likes to introduce Pennies for Peace around Veterans Day because of the theme of people fighting for their freedom. After learning about the work that Pennies for Peace does, Denise’s students embraced the idea of helping others that have less than they have. Giving a penny was something they could do, something they could ask their family and community to do, and they understood how much this meant to children half way around the world in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
Denise saw how much her students loved Pennies for Peace and wanted to do more, so she came up with an idea. Her students were always running out of school supplies, so she purchased a large box of pencils and allowed students to “buy” them from her. The money raised went straight to the class’ Pennies for Peace jar.
Denise has used the program with her students for almost five years. Just this year, Denise’s students raised enough money to provide school supplies for eight children for a full school year. “The program is simple to use and has an enormous payoff,” said Denise. She has seen this program impact her students in significant ways. Some of her students created a girls book club. “Through the Pennies for Peace program they have learned how many children, especially girls, in Central Asia are not given the same educational opportunities as children in the United States.” she said. The students who participate in the book club support one another and bond over literature. “I am inspired every time the book club reads the young reader version of Three Cups of Tea. They can see how one ordinary person can change the world. And it could be them.” said Denise.
Denise has also seen first hand how the program can have a profound impact on some of the hardest-to-reach children in her class. Denise recalls one day when she was in the middle of teaching a math lesson and one of her students, who tends to be a day dreamer, jumped up from her seat, ran to her back pack and pulled out a large bag of change. She immediately ran to the Pennies for Peace jar to proudly donate the change she had collected at home. Denise says the program affects each child differently. “Most of my students are in low income housing. They have needs, but they recognize that they can give what’s left over. It’s amazing how an 11 year old can think past an Xbox to give back. And that a little effort can make a big difference.” said Denise.
B’nai Israel Religious School, Southbury, Connecticut
Shari Lynn Kochman credits the book Three Cups of Tea for not only helping to teach her students about global charity, but as an inspiration in her own life. Shari Lynn teaches third graders at B’nai Israel Religious School in Southbury, CT. She enjoys the fact that she teaches her students a wide array of things including, Hebrew, religious culture, rituals, and more, during their time together twice a week. Read more…
B’nai Israel Religious School
An area Shari Lynn is particularly focused on is philanthropy and charity. In Judaism, the word tzedakah refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just, which Judaism emphasizes are important parts of living a spiritual life. Shari Lynn uses Central Asia Institute’s Pennies for Peace program to teach her students the value of helping others, or tzedakah. “It’s important that we try to make a difference where we can,” says Shari Lynn.
Each year Shari Lynn and her students choose a global and local charity to support and for the past several years her students have chosen Pennies for Peace. Shari Lynn uses the program to show her students that it is important to help others and that even a little bit of money can go a long way in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. For example, depending on the region, $40 to $50 can send a child to school for an entire year. Shari Lynn also thinks it is important to teach her students to embrace other cultures and teach acceptance.
During each class students bring tzedakah (or money) to donate to Pennies for Peace, with the goal of raising enough money to send one child to school for a year. One student, whose family does not have much disposable income, was determined to send two students to school for a year through Pennies for Peace. This student chose to donate a $20 gift he received for Hanukah. This action reaffirms for Shari Lynn that she is making a positive impact on her students.
“It is very empowering to let these kids know that they can help someone halfway across the world receive an education,” Shari Lynn said. “Pennies for Peace helps them realize how fortunate they all are. It is wonderful that my students have a curiosity about other parts of the world. This program helps me teach acceptance of our differences and reaffirms our similarities.”
Monmouth-Roseville Junior High School, Roseville, Illinois
Story and photo coming soon!