This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Our city has a reputation of poverty, crime, drugs, and failing schools. But our Debate Team has shattered these stereotypes. They have become one of the largest and most successful teams. But everyday is a struggle to support such a huge program with huge goals with such small resources.
We are a Title I, low income public school in one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States.
The majority of our students are on free lunch. Half our students are Hispanic and the other half African American. We are located on the same block as the criminal courts and a jail with a daily line of inmates coming and going. Our students have many obstacles to overcome including poverty, abuse, learning disabilities, medical conditions and crime which is endemic. From a cousin being shot to a parent being jailed - every year it seems that each of my students has been personally affected by crime and violence. Despite these obstacles, we have managed to build one of the largest and most successful urban debate teams in the nation. This is unheard of for a Title I public school and especially unheard of in a city where there are no other debate teams. This has all been made possible as the direct result of supporters through DonorsChoose.org!
My Project
We are asking for toner for our classroom printer! Through the generosity of Donors Choose we were able to get a classroom printer for our debaters and our journalism program. Since then our classroom has become a hub for ALL students because it is one of the few functional printers at our school and THE ONLY for any student to use. The printer is used by our debate team for printing up their evidence and arguments before a tournament. Maintaining a debate team of 100 debaters would be impossible without it. Which is why I usually pay for the toner out of pocket but that is increasingly becoming difficult as our toner needs increase. Our student journalists use the printer to print up articles, photos and newsletters for our school's law, government and justice themes. Every student and all parents are provided with a copy of our "Great Debaters" newspaper on a monthly basis. We hope to make it weekly or biweekly with more toner! So our students have a lot of tone, but they need toner
Last year our school won the City Championships, beating some of the best schools in New York and the US.
The only way we can maintain our Team is through DonorsChoose.org. Other debate teams enjoy lavish budgets of tens of thousands of dollars or charge their students hundreds of dollars a month in fees. Nearly all our students are on free lunch programs. Your investment will equip our students with the best technology so that they can continue competing against the best. Thank you!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Fogel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
