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Students push ahead with Haiti projectPALMYRA, Jun 22, 2010 (Lebanon Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- What started as a pilot project for seventh-graders at Palmyra Area Middle School has become a club with global outreach to students in Haiti. Science teacher Jeff Remington's classes have been exchanging educational and cultural experiences via the Internet with students at Les Bons Samaritains School near St. Marc. In 2009, Remington's students created web pages in Wiki in French, which is spoken in Haiti, and in English. The program is a web-based platform in which multiple people can interact on it. Students have downloaded photos and videos of their different school experiences and cultural events. For their first exchange, the Palmyra students filmed a science lesson on electric circuits for the Haitian students. That video was then uploaded to the Wiki site. The Palmyra students also mailed electrical kits to their Haitian counterparts so the students could do their own experiment while watching the film of Palmyra students. In the past year, student Nicole Berger of Palmyra put together a program about her soccer team, explaining how the game is played using video clips. It was a big hit with the Haitian students, who watched the game over and over, she said. "It's a privilege to work with these kids and with Mr. Remington and all my other fellow classmates because we're making a difference," Nicole said. She said the Haitian students told her how much they appreciated what the Palmyra classes did for them. The Palmyra Area Education Foundation provided the seed money for the initial project. The students are now trying to raise $75,000 through a website at globalgiving.org to buy new computer equipment for the Haitian students to continue the project. So far, the site shows the students have raised about $2,800. Remington said the next step is to turn the project into a club. Students who have been involved since the project's inception and who will be high-school freshmen in the fall are being invited to participate in the club. Remington said he plans to hold seminars for the club, including asking professional web designers to talk about their work and asking them to help the club improve the website. "None of us are web designers. We've all kind of done this on the fly. I think we've done a decent job, not having any training," he added. Remington said the computer room in Haiti will upgraded this summer with new equipment to improve the interconnectivity between the two schools. Intel will provide training for the Haitian teachers and students. "I hope to be there to see that all work out," he said. Since the earthquake in Haiti in January, the exchanges between Palmyra and its Haitian counterparts have declined. Remington said the school was not damaged, but the Haitian teacher who knew how to use the technology did not return to the school after the earthquake. He expects, however, that the exchanges will pick up as new technology is installed and teachers and students train this fall. Remington said he sees the role of Palmyra students evolving into something larger. "I can see us having roles as people helping out with marketing, with web design, basically it's going to run like our own little nonprofit," he said. The students would get some "real-time resume experience running a global project. I think it'll be a good opportunity," he said. The students are excited about what they have accomplished. Last year, Naomi Zeigler worked on a YouTube program that showed Haiti students the middle school musical, "State Fair." The hard part, she said, was translating it into French. "That took a little extra time, but I think it's worth it because then they'll learn a little about our culture," Naomi said. Julia Graft said the Haitian students have reacted positively to the exchanges, especially the electric circuit lesson. "They seemed really excited to learn about it. We in America take school for granted, but the kids in Haiti, they love going to school. They love learning. They want to be there because they know it's going to lead to a better life for them," she said. [email protected]; 272-5611, ext. 151 To see more of the Lebanon Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ldnews.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Lebanon Daily News, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |