By Scott Brinton
The funds and the books will go to the nonprofit Invisible Children project's Schools for Schools program, which aids Ugandan children who have been kidnapped and conscripted into a rebel militia, the LRA, which is battling the Ugandan government for control of the country. Children are often beaten and drugged to force them into submission after their homes and villages are burned and their family members raped and murdered.
In 2006, former Calhoun Assistant Principal Mike Harrington, who is now Mepham High's principal, suggested that the Senior Experience class take up Invisible Children's cause. The Senior Experience teachers, Jason Elias and Kate Caporusso, did just that, and ran with the project.
Senior Experience is a "real-life learning" class aimed at instilling leadership qualities and fostering a global view in students. Participants take on fundraising projects at the same time that they do internships at businesses throughout the South Shore, including at Herald Community Newspapers.
This week, Calhoun learned that it had raised more money for Invisible Children than any other high school or college in the New England region in 2008-09 and the third-highest amount in the U.S. The school won the right to send a student representative on a two-week trip to Uganda this summer to see firsthand the devastation that the country's 23-year civil war has wrought and to help repair broken schools.
In all, Invisible Children will send 13 student representatives from across the country to Uganda. More than 200 New England high schools took part in the friendly fundraising competition. Although New York is a mid-Atlantic state, Invisible Children included it in New England for its contest.
Additionally, so far, Calhoun has collected the greatest number of books of any high school in the country. If the first-place total stands, Calhoun will win the right to send a second student to Uganda. The school is eagerly awaiting final results of the contest, which is sponsored by Invisible Children and run by Better World Books. Results are expected by the end of the week.
Elias said that two Calhoun students, Chelsea Lawrence and Rachel Hendrix, both 17, took the lead in organizing this year's fundraising efforts. The students' big fundraiser was the Senior Sleepover. If a student pledged $50 and five books, he or she could spend the night in the school gymnasium.
Lawrence and Hendrix said that the event, attended by 60 Calhoun seniors, was a blast. Two bands, Destiny or Design and The Art of Falling, performed throughout the night. A midnight buffet was served. And students hung out and had fun.
"At 3 a.m., we were having brownies with our principal," David Seinfeld, said Hendrix.
The Sleepover alone raised $5,000. The students also sold bracelets, folders and T-shirts. They held a fashion show. And they kept a spare change jar outside the cafeteria, calling it Change for Change.
In an unusual fundraiser, students offered pledges when one senior, Alyssa Retmanski, "displaced" herself, squeezing into the school's front display case for a day to mimic the imprisonment that so many Ugandans must endure in the country's numerous, squalid refugee camps.
The students also sought sponsorships from local businesses, said Lawrence. "We're bringing the community together here," she said.
Hand in hand with the fundraising efforts, the students read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, a novel that portrays the experiences of an African tribe in Niger as they first meet white missionaries. And the students studied pre- and post-colonial African history.
Both Lawrence and Hendrix said they would go to Uganda in a heartbeat this summer if selected, although they noted that their parents are worried about the prospect of their flying into a war zone.
Whether they go or not, both students said they have learned much through the Invisible Children project. "The big thing," said Hendrix, "is not to take anything for granted. In Merrick, we're very lucky to have what we have."
Lawrence said she learned that "a few people can make a difference."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
