May 18, 2011
BKW students including Nick
McSpedon, Maria Torina, Mary Viscio, Connor Devine and Steven McIntyre
made
more than 400 origami cranes to aid Japanese children.
SSS and NHS members create cranes to provide clothing for earthquake, tsunami victims
Members of BKW’s Students Serving Society and National Honor Society helped to provide 468 articles of clothing to Japanese children who were victims of the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan.
Marisa Henkin shows two of the cranes the students made.
The effort was part of a challenge posed by children's clothing company Osh Kosh B'Gosh. The company promised to provide one article of clothing for every origami crane sent to the company by the end of April. About 25 students dedicated two weeks to creating the 468 cranes that were shipped to Osh Kosh B'Gosh.
It was School Librarian Beth Davis who first read about the challenge and sent a link to SSS Advisor James Lemire and asked if it would be something SSS would want to do.
“Not a single kid heard the idea and didn’t think it was worthwhile,” Lemire said.
He then asked NHS Advisor Tim Service if the NHS students would like to help out.
“The more hands the better,” Service said. “What would be wrong with sending hundreds and hundreds of cranes?”
The Osh Kosh B'Gosh website provided instructions to create the cranes. The students also followed a step-by-step video on Google to help perfect their skills.
“They had a lot of fun learning how to do origami,” Service said.
During the two weeks, students could be seen creating cranes everywhere, even back stage during rehearsals for the school musical.
“They simply would not stop making these cranes, and the result is a positive that will impact the lives of so many in the short and the long term,” Lemire said. “The donation of 39 dozen articles of clothing to those who had lost so much is just another example of BKW kids who are like the little engine that could.”
“This is another impressive effort on the part of our students and our teachers,” School Superintendent Dr. Paul Dorward said. “I truly think it is important to work with our students to help them to understand the world around them and teach them that they can make a difference. This type of project is important because of the aid it will bring to those in need. It is also important because it helps to shape our children into caring, civic-minded, school and community citizens.”
This isn’t the first time students at BKW pitched in to help others around the world recover from a natural disaster. Following the earthquake in Haiti, SSS President and BKW senior Trisa Sluti immediately reacted by approaching Lemire with a desire to do something. The students held four bake sales to raise money for the Red Cross for Haitian relief efforts.
“This is just another example of how we have these really good kids here who want to be involved and do things,” Lemire said. “As professionals entrusted with educating the whole student, we have so much to be proud of in these young folks.”
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