Rotary Club to match funds for global conference
(Courtesy photo) Nine Washington Elementary sixth-graders made up the winning Design For Change team this year for their work on prevention of teen suicide. The group will represent the United States at the global DFC conference in Spain in November. From left, Gage Ramsay, Breckin Nevarez, Ayiana Prevost, Arika Alward, Sean Gallaher and Evan Dickinson. Team members not pictured, Kora Converse, Ezra Tomlinson, and Josh Read.
SANDPOINT — For their project HOPE, which addresses teen suicide in the community, a group of local students will represent the United States at the Design for Change global conference in Spain next month.
As they are running about $2,800 short of their $20,000 fundraising goal, the Rotary Club of Sandpoint announced this week they will match up to $1,000 in contributions to help the group reach the goal in time for the conference.
"The Rotary Club of Sandpoint is a strong supporter of our schools and students, and is especially impressed and proud of these students and their teachers," said Rotary member Pierce Smith in an email to the Daily Bee.
Nine students, who are now SMS seventh-graders, began project HOPE — Have Only Positive Expectation — as sixth-graders at Washington Elementary. The group did not take their mission lightly. Throughout the year, they embarked on several tasks, such as random acts of kindness challenges, creating a buddy bench and becoming role models for kindergartners.
Hundreds of groups across the country submitted their projects to Design for Change, covering a variety of topics. The Sandpoint students were honored to be chosen as the one team to represent the U.S. at the conference, where they will join chosen teams from countries around the world.Six of the nine students — Sean Gallaher, Evan Dickinson, Breckin Nevarez, Arika Alward, Ayiana Prevost and Gage Ramsay — will travel to Spain, along with their former teacher and parent chaperones.
Ann Dickinson, the teacher in charge of Washington Elementary's Design for Change elective, said the group is "very" grateful for all the support from the Rotary and the community.
"Anything we could get would just be amazing," Dickinson said. "We are so close and a lot of that has to do with our community being so generous and supporting these kids and what they are doing. We live in a great community."
For information and to donate for the group's trip to Spain, visit designforchange.us/pages/donate. The students' final video submission for their Design for Change project can be viewed on their donation page as well.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.