Forrest Hill Academy makes Haiti relief point of discussion for spaghetti dinner

After the earthquake in Haiti, the students in the Current Issues class at Forrest Hill Academy watched clips from CNN and were moved almost to the point of tears at the devastation that they saw. Once they took everything in, the students of Forrest Hill Academy decided to raise money for Haitian relief by organizing and selling tickets to a spaghetti dinner. The first step that these students took was to organize themselves into committees to work on three parts of the dinner, which are the kitchen, decoration, and the tickets and program, which consists of 17 students and 12 faculty members. These committees have worked diligently to write a grant to Communities in Schools for $500, which they were awarded in January.

The students decided that the dinner, which was held on Feb. 11, would be a ticketed admittance event, with the tickets costing $5 per person. Students and faculty advisors worked diligently to sell tickets for both a raffle and the actual dinner, which was collected on Feb. 12. They also worked very hard on the program for the dinner, which consisted of student presentations such as a song, step routine, history of Haiti, speech on the importance of helping Haiti, and a poem. The students who were involved in this activity utilized a portion of their second-period Current Issues class in order to participate and organize the details for the dinner. As a result of their diligence, the students have received various partnerships in this activity such as Communities In Schools (CIS) and Yele Haiti.

The successful completion of this activity was essential, as the students, who lead this initiative with faculty assistance, have received the opportunity to learn about and serve a community outside of their own. As a total, they have raised over $900 to send to Haiti through Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti organization. They were exposed to culture through the service of others and built stronger relationships with one another and the community at large. As young adults, these students were given a chance to change the world in which they live, as well as the thought processes that haunt the communities in which they live. Studies have shown that children who participate in service activities are more likely to succeed in life. The faculty at Forrest Hill were dedicated to assisting with this activity, because of its aim to give our students this advantage in life.