This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Students in the School District of Philadelphia are amazing, resilient, and talented. They teach me something every single day. I'm inspired by their thoughtfulness, creativity, and generosity.
Despite limited funding from an urban school district that routinely cannot meet their needs, my students come to school, work hard, and defy the odds.
My high school is a college-preparatory magnet school in the School District of Philadelphia. It is home to over 500 scholars who come from all parts of Philadelphia, sometimes commuting over an hour to get to school and doing it again to return home. Many of my students come from trying neighborhoods and tough backgrounds but still fight hard to get a top-notch education that will one day get them to and through college. My students consistently overcome the odds in order to better themselves and their communities through their educational pursuits.
My Project
Startlingly, few of my students have ever spent significant time in the outdoors connecting with themselves, others, and the natural world around them. Our expedition aims to develop our students' leadership, self-esteem, communication, and problem-solving skills through a weeklong canoeing and backpacking adventure in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey wilderness.
Each of the 22 students on our expedition will carry their 40-pound backpack filled with their food, group gear, and other supplies for the entire weeklong course.
They'll learn to work as a team, to navigate without the use of their cell phones, to find and purify water, to cook healthy meals with limited resources, and to set up and take down camp.
Most importantly, they'll learn powerful life skills like reflecting on their actions, being accountable for themselves and others, and finding real-time solutions to unexpected problems with their peers. By the time we finish the course, our hope is that our students will be able to re-examine their young lives, be grateful for certain "modern" privileges, and leave the trip more worldly than when they started.
Ultimately, our students will learn that there is "more in them than they know." We hope that they'll realize that they are capable of doing so many important things for themselves, their families, their friends, and the world around them.
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. Buxbaum and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
