James speaks

LSI held the 3rd Annual Innovators Coffee House for the Fellows program yesterday. Fellows presented creative, one-minute descriptions of the issues they most care about and the solutions they propose to address them. Some of the ideas are quite advanced while others are still preliminary, and all will evolve over spring semester.

The coffee house ambiance and event format made it more of an open-mic night than a formal meeting. Fellows listened to each others’ presentations with an ear toward who they might collaborate with over the coming months. Venture ideas ranged from providing free golf lessons for low-income students, setting up a student-exchange program between DC area schools to increase diversity, to creating a scholarship program for kids of incarcerated parents. Look for detailed information on all planned ventures on this site soon.

Special thanks to the George Washington University’s School of Business and the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, which hosted event.

• Ashley Richardson, LSI Fellow ‘08 from Hyde Public Charter School, is a Freshman at Grinnell College and a Posse Scholar, a four year scholarship. She also writes that she hopes to someday start her own non-profit based on what she learned in the Fellows program.
• Victoria Wang, LSI Fellow ‘09 from W.T. Woodson Senior High School, is a National Merit semi-finalist.
• Mae Missana, LSI Fellow ‘08 from Central High School, is now a freshman at the University of the South and also is a Posse Scholar. She writes that her LSI Fellows and Trips experiences influenced her choice of college and her application, which focused especially on her LearnServe Trip to China.

Congrats to all of them on their accomplishments!

‘09-’10 LSI Fellows

51 of this year’s LSI Fellows kicked off the 2009-2010 program year with a weekend retreat to the For Love of Children Outdoor Education Center in West Virginia. The Fellows challenged themselves on the ropes course, began honing their skills as leaders, and came together as a dynamic group committed to changing their communities. Photos of the event are available in the Fellows gallery.

Photo credit: Chris Barclay

The event was hosted by the Meridian International Center, and five students explained their social ventures. A brief description of all the Fellows’ ventures follows:

PAXX

Zora Barclay, Albert Einstein High School

How, Zora wondered, could she combine her passion for art with her commitment to end human trafficking? The answer: PAXX, a business started by teens for teens of the Washington DC area. Zora and her team noticed all the old T-shirts, jeans, and other clothing thrown away without a second glance or (even worse) stored away for “someone else” to wear. Paxx takes these discarded materials and turns them into must-have items; 10% of the profits will be set aside to start a non-profit organization for survivors of human trafficking.

Students for Fair Trade

Salma Mohamed, Annandale High School

Mia Salans, Washington International School

Salma Mohamed and Mia Salans are bringing the Fair Trade movement to high schools – beginning with their own, Annandale High School and the Washington International School. Fair Trade is a social responsibility movement that provides workers and producers with fair wages, safe working conditions, and respect for child labor and human rights norms. Salma and Mia are working with their schools to ensure school uniforms are purchased from companies that satisfy fair trade standards.

Lean and Green

Harry Sullivan, Friendship Collegiate Academy

Observing his school trash bins after lunch, Harry realized that Styrofoam lunch trays are causing a huge solid waste problem. Harry discovered that the school uses 1,400 trays – approximately 150 lbs – each day! This adds up to more than 8,000 trays per week, or 416,000 trays thrown away each year. Harry is working with the school to convert their cafeteria to biodegradable or reusable lunch trays.

Project TOP SOIL

Samuel Taussig, Bethesda – Chevy Chase High School

Pondering what to do with the final, unwanted bites of his Chipotle burrito, Sam stumbled across an idea: rooftop composting. Sam wants to convert the unused space on top of schools, restaurants, and office buildings into productive space. Through efficient collection and processing systems, composting of solid food waste will reduce the total solid waste load destined for landfills.

AIDing the Fight

Nina Anagnostopoulos, Wheaton High School

Reflecting on the 14,000 new HIV/AIDS infections each day – nearly 95% in developing countries and more than 50% in individuals between age 15 to 25 – Nina has decided to strengthen access to health care and treatment for individuals who cannot afford it. Through bake sales, music benefits, and school dances Nina and her team will raise funds for organizations such as Until There’s a Cure and Product Red and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Green Education Kits

Kristina Brant, Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology

An elementary school tutor, Kristina has grown increasingly concerned by the unequal educational opportunities in Virginia. She discovered that 12% of the third grade students who took the required science Standards of Learning test did not pass. Kristina and her team are now preparing a series of environmental science lesson kits for elementary school teachers in Fairfax County.

R3 Challenge Advocates

Avery Murphy, National Cathedral School

After observing a successful electronic waste collection drive at the Potomac School in 2007-8, Avery saw the opportunity to host a similar effort at the National Cathedral School. Organizing around an R3 (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) Challenge, she will raise awareness on campus around proper disposal of electronic waste and organize a campus-wide collection drive.

E-Build

Eamon McArdle, Kingsbury Day School

Eamon found that consumer electronics account for 1 percent of landfill content by volume, but contribute up to 70 percent of their toxic waste. Moreover, he found that many of his classmates are eager to pursue a career in computers, but have little experience in building computers. Eamon’s E-Build is an electronic learning program, training students to build their own computers using old, donated computer parts.

Greenlight Project

Jessica Sawadago, Springbrook High School

Jessica and the Springbrook Green Team are reducing their school’s carbon footprint by installing window insulation film on the school’s skylights. The film will reflect heat in the summer but retain heat in the winter, thereby reducing heating and cooling costs. More importantly, Jessica hopes, it will inspire others to explore actions they can take to save money and protect the environment.

Can Clean Be Applied to Coal?

Diana Webb, Georgetown Day School

To Diana, climate change is a civil rights issue: why should the excess energy consumption of some damage the lives and environment of others? Diana realized that though many people recognize the dangers of coal emissions, few are willing to invest the time or energy to abolish the use of coal. Her documentary film will call attention to the ethical considerations of coal consumption, designed to inspire viewers to venture out and be part of the solution.

Composting

Halter Cunningham, Landon School

Concerned about the excess food waste in the Landon cafeteria, Halter plans to establish a school-wide composting system. The soil produced will be sold at Landon’s annual azalea festival.

Reduce Solid Waste

Zulma Guttierez, Northwestern High School

While picking up trash along the Anacostia River, it suddenly dawned on Zulma: the source of the litter must be further upstream, in communities such as her very own Hyattsville, Md. Zulma is organizing clean-ups around her home and school to keep cans, bottles, wrappers, and other trash from draining into the water and harming aquatic habitats.

Think Green, Save Some Green

John Foley, Georgetown Preparatory School

John concluded that his school’s struggling recycling program is not in itself the problem. Rather it’s that students don’t care if they’re recycling incorrectly. John is launching a series of green initiatives – beginning with composting and potentially extending to recycling systems and solar panels – that will save the school money and heighten his classmates’ environmental consciousness.

Diamonds in the Rough

Markesha Williams, Thurgood Marshall Academy

Since she was a child, Markesha has always been into fashion: she would transform her mother’s plastic grocery bags into t-shirts. Imagine, Markesha encourages, how all of your barely-worn items of clothing might bring a smile to a young person’s face.  Markesha is transforming such abandoned clothes into inexpensive, elegant dresses for teenage girls in Southeast DC.

Senior Courtyard

Michele Spencer, Benjamin Banneker Academic High School

Michele saw an opportunity to combine the need for a new senior courtyard with a push to revive the recycling club and environmental awareness across campus. She is leading an effort to improve the senior courtyard in a way that will spread school-wide awareness of environmental problems.

Leafing for Change

Victoria Wang, W. T. Woodson High School

New landfills in northern Virginia cost roughly a half million dollars per acre, yet a quarter of all landfill waste is biodegradable. While Fairfax City requires residents to sweep leaves to the curb for collection, to be set aside for compost, Fairfax County as a whole has no such program. Victoria is setting up a series of county-wide composting sites, accessible to the public, so residents can easily compost their yard waste instead of wasting plastic bags and needlessly filling landfills.

Inspiring Green

Andrew Stevenson, Sidwell Friends School

Within the LSI Fellows group Andrew saw a number of powerful proposals for environmental change, including a number of similar proposals on different campuses. The Inspiring Green website will allow student environmental groups to review both effective and ineffective experiences from other campuses and adjust their strategy accordingly, as well as seek out opportunities for collaboration.

J&J Productions: water documentary

Josh Weiner, Washington International School

Jamie DeArmon, Sandy Spring Friends School

As a participant on a LearnServe Trip to Zambia, Josh caught a glimpse of the sixth of the world population with little access to clean water and sanitation. A dedicated film-maker, Josh is eager to use this medium to call attention to the problems, and solutions, around water and sanitation. Jamie is similarly concerned that people die each day from preventable diseases, simply because they don’t have clean water and a place to use the bathroom. A natural musician – he plays guitar, ukelele, keyboard, drums, and mandolin – Jamie has designed the film’s soundtrack.

T.A.G.S.

Ayinde Cunningham, Benjamin Banneker Academic HS

Eager to combine his artistic talents with his environmental beliefs, Ayinde will produce and sell shirts and buttons with engaging environmental logos and slogans.

Handling with Care

Rashida Asante-Eccleston, Wilson Senior High School

Marshall Peele, School Without Walls

Nevasha Noble, Central High School

Nina Thompson, Cesar Chavez Public Charter School

Nearly 1 out of every 5 DC residents, or 104,000 people, live at or below the poverty line, making DC the jurisdiction with the 3^rd highest poverty rate in the country, according to a 2005 Census Bureau survey. Rashida, Marshall, Nevasha, and Nina plan to collect food, clothing, and other necessities to donate to homeless individuals and those in need. Together the team is working towards building an independent outreach program for homeless individuals in Washington DC.

24/7 Composting

Symone Bullock, Holton-Arms School

A study conducted by the Holton environmental club last year revealed that 200 pounds of food were wasted by the high school alone during a single lunch period. Symone plans to start small, then scale up her effort to collect food waste and convert it into compost to be sold at the annual school fundraiser. She sees this effort as a key step in strengthening Holton’s environmental stewardship.

Poder

Bailey Ramsey, Potomac School

Concerned about the deterioration of middle and high school education in the DC Metropolitan Area, Bailey has partnered with the Alternative House Community Outreach Program in Bailey’s Crossroads, Va. The Poder team will a) install six functioning computers in the center for academic use, b) host weekly academic tutoring sessions, and c) create a summer academic and sports camp at Potomac school for underprivileged 4-6^th graders.  Once successful at Alternative House, the team will create a blueprint that can be expanded upon and implemented in different community centers across the DC Area.

Run Green

Raivon Johns, Luke C. Moore Academy Senior HS

Concerned that not enough people are aware of the increasing environmental impact that the world is experiencing, Raivon has started Run Green as a community voice on living green. Whereas most magazines are written by adults, Run Green features teens as the heart and soul of the magazine – the ones giving the advice.

Caribbean Cultural Awareness

Afriyie Turner, Roosevelt Senior High School

After a friend got into an argument with another student who made fun of her Jamaican background, Afriyie decided to focus her efforts on stopping stereotypes early on. She plans to lead music-based cultural understanding workshops at Powell Elementary School so these students, by the time they reach middle and high school, will not stereotype others.

Caitlin at Nationals

Caitlin Lesczynski, a 2008 LSI Fellow, was recently recognized for her work that began as a venture in the LearnServe Fellows program.

I was invited to participate in a pre-game ritual by the Nationals Dream Foundation (the Nationals’s community outreach program) who wanted to recognize my venture that is actually taking place next month. On May 22nd, I’ve helped to organize a group of about 150 volunteers to go out in boats along the Anacostia River to pick up trash, rebuild degraded wetlands, plant trees, and help restore the environment surrounding the National’s stadium. It’s going to be a pretty intense day, with lots of food and fun stuff planned for all the volunteers, and then everyone will be recognized at the Nat’s home game that night. I’ve worked really hard with the Nationals Dream Foundation and the ECC to get this going and this is where my LSI Fellows’s grant money will be invested, so I’m happy it’s all finally coming together!

Oscar in China on LSC ‘07

Oscar Portillo, a 2007 LSI Fellow and member of the LearnServe China ‘07 Trip was recently named a Gates Millenium Scholar. Congratulations Oscar!

Being a fellow enriched me culturally and intellectually. I had big misconceptions about the world. I realized that even though culture, language, and location might divide people, poverty and sickness do not discriminate because of geographic realms or cultural heritage. But besides learning this, the Fellows experience served as a bridge for me to American culture. As a person who just moved to the United States from a small town in EL Salvador and did not speak English as well as I might have wished, the LSI Fellows program helped me to see a bigger picture of the North American culture and perspective. My high school is composed by more than 2/3 minority students and the Wheaton area is a very diverse community; these two factors created a cultural bubble—another parallel dimension if you will. As part of Fellows meetings, I was exposed to people to whom I would have been never been exposed to by just hanging around in my neighborhood. And by going to China I was not only granted the opportunity of fulfilling my childhood dream, I also got a clearer idea of what I want to do with my life.