On May 19th, LearnServe International recognized the 2008-09 LSI Fellows—29 high school students from the DC Metro region who have launched social ventures of their own design in order to affect change in their communities. These students represent twenty-eight public, private, and charter high schools in DC, Virgina, and Maryland. Over the past year they have been met with local organizations to develop a business plan for their ideas, which they presented to a panel convened by Youth Venture.
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 3rd 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 4-6th 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.