The students at our high school total around eighteen hundred. From the most current statistics fro the 2016 -2017 school year, 24.25 % of our students are English Language Learners (ELLs). We have 399 in Levels 1-4; 185 are L1 and L2 students; 27 are homeless, with 20 being unaccompanied homeless youth. Many have fled violence. So clearly our students have challenges such as trauma (PTSD), poor mental or physical health, inadequate housing, immigration and severe poverty. And of course many are not dressed for the North American winter.
When one is hungry, scared or cold, it's impossible to focus.
So as teachers, we try to make our classes safe and we buy snacks for our students. We have a limited closet of jackets, and warm clothes. I would love to be able to offer our students a wider variety of warm clothes, socks and shoes, or mittens, hats and scarves and healthy food to take home.
My Project
Many of our refugee or immigrant students are so needy and are not prepared for our cold winters in the USA. They work doing all the things that many of us don't want to do. They work outside doing roofing, or in construction in the cold. Or they work long hours after school, returning home in the dark. They often have to walk to work or wait for a bus to go to work or school. They often don't have adequate clothing or resources to keep them warm or full.
Ensuring that our students are warm, well fed, and comfortable means that they have a few less things to worry about.
If we had a well stocked closet, we could provide wholesome, satisfying food and warm clothing that they can take home.
This closet is accessible to our counselors as well as our teachers. Very often students are reluctant to verbalize their needs. Usually it is only our relationships with our students on a case by case basis that we know what a student needs. This closet would ensure privacy. Having warm clothes and healthy food could go along way to free them up to concentrate on being successful in their lives outside as well as inside school.
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