Water Blogged

Last week AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) held its annual conference in Dallas, Texas. At this conference, we were able to shine a spotlight on an amazing H2O for Life and AVID educator, Suzanne Temple-Gumm (pictured above). Suzanne implemented an H2O for Life project in her AVID classroom at Henry Sibley High School, where AVID students are usually encouraged to each do an individual service project. However, we know that real meaningful change comes from a community coming together to achieve a common goal. Suzanne gave a presentation on how she had her class work on a project together instead of each of them doing their own service projects. 

Her classroom’s project had three phases: 1) The AVID students learned about the water crisis in South Sudan; 2) The AVID students taught the student body what they had learned; 3) The AVID students took charge of raising funds to drill a well in South Sudan.  

Suzanne’s class raised more than $1,200 for their water project. Her students not only practiced many skills that are essential to succeeding in college and their future careers, but they also learned how rewarding it is to help others and how much of an impact they can each have on the world around them. 

We were proud to present alongside Suzanne at the AVID conference and our hope is that we see more AVID teachers following in her footsteps. Her class made us think of this quote, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Thank you so much for the work you do Suzanne, the world needs more educators like you! If you want to read more about the details of her project, check out her AVID blog post here: https://www.avid.org/blog/nonprofit-service