Water Blogged

Lydia Middleton Elementary School has once again gone above and beyond what they hoped to accomplish with their H2O for Life service-learning project this school year. Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, the students in all three 4th-grade classes managed to raise even more than they did last year for their partner school. We want to say thank you to teachers Shelli Reetz, Mary Beth Cullens, and Lee Ann Hall for inspiring their students and giving them the opportunity to make a difference!

Students at Lydia Middleton began learning about the topics of water and access by utilizing the Water Guardians program, H2O for Life’s new online curriculum that launched earlier this year. Water Guardians is a free curriculum consisting of five lesson plans that take students on a journey from the start of the Mississippi River, down to the Gulf of Mexico, and off to other parts of the world to explore why water is so important to us. After completing these lessons, the students felt moved by what they learned and wanted to take action! They applied for and were awarded an H2O for Life mini-grant for $300. They used the grant funds to purchase materials for their annual candy gram fundraiser.

46 students were involved with selling candy grams sales, reaching more than 350 satisfied customers in their school community. All in all, they were able to raise $1,427 for their partner school in South Sudan. More than four times the amount they were awarded with their grant!

One student, Kinslee, wrote in a reflection essay, “We raised over 1,400 dollars for the South Sudan school. I’m so glad that we were able to raise a lot of money. That means people bought candy grams so we can not only raise money for others to have clean water, but they can also make people happy by buying them candy grams. I like getting candy grams for others because it makes other people happy and you also get to donate. What I learned about the water crisis is that many people don’t have clean water so they have to drink nasty water that’s brown and could have stuff in it that makes you sick in it. It’s sad to hear how many people don’t have clean water. How did this project make you feel? I know it made me feel great to help others have clean water!”

Kinsley is an excellent example of the impact that H2O for Life programming can have on students. We aim to empower students to become global changemakers. Through our service-learning programs, students can learn how to take the lessons they are learning inside the classroom and apply them to solving real-world problems.

The students at Lydia Middleton never fail to impress us with their dedication to serving others. They truly know what it means to embrace global citizenship. Thank you to all the students and educators at Lydia Middleton who are doing their part in providing clean water and sanitation to schools around the world!