Awards for Excellence

This project began when the students were in kindergarten, and they participated in the OCHO Project to provide books for summer reading to kids at their school who did not have funds to purchase materials at the school book fair. School Counselor, Lisa Peart noted, “The students were so excited to have books of their own to take home and read.” On returning the following fall, Marilyn Perlyn of The OCHO Project suggested students implement the same project to reach out to children in Tanzania. Students organized the activity and, as Mrs.Peart noted, “they learned valuable lessons in trustworthiness, kindness, and responsibility.” Books were collected, a walk-a-then was held and the service project grew. They presented their work to the student council and student body in a PowerPoint that featured children around the world with donated books. Over the next six years, these students organized sending books to India, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, and most recently to Namibia. Mrs. Peart points to the success of the project as evident in increased reading scores, in what students have learned about the lives of children around the world, and, notably, in the development of compassion and kindness. She concludes that these four students “have learned many valuable lessons and at Northwest they are being educated in both their minds and hearts.”