In the wake of a devastating earthquake in Japan, a second grade student at Henry Johnson Charter School in Albany felt compelled to help those who have been affected.
What made me want to help the people of Japan after the earthquake was when I saw it, it made me feel bad, said Nick Koopman, 7. `I decided to write a letter that asks everybody to donate and get money to give to Japan.`
The school pulled together and donated a total of $525 to the American Red Cross Relief Fund for Japan. Tim Wade, a volunteer for the Red Cross, came by this morning to accept the check during an 8:30 a.m. assembly. Koopman said he was nervous at first about not being able to raise much money. But after seeing the money roll in, his worries were laid to rest.
`When I found out we raised the money, I knew kids at Henry Johnson care about people in need,` he said.
His teacher, Natalie Brown, said while Koopman only asked people to donate $1 each, some teachers would donate $50 to $100.
`A lot of kids donated more than what was asked,` she said.
Brown makes sure to include current events such as natural disasters in her daily teaching. She said she likes to teach them about things other than just what is inside a math or a science text book.
`Whenever a major event or a major disaster happens, I like to bring it into the classroom to make the kids aware,` she said. `They’re not coming to school just for a fundamental education, they also need to know what’s going on in the world.`
The class watched videos on YouTube from the aftermath created by the earthquake and tsunami to show what kind of impact these natural disasters can have. Brown said this was not the first time she had educated her students on incidents like this. But when Koopman showed up the next day with a letter asking for his fellow classmates to donate money, she was surprised.
`It kind of caught me off guard that Nick would have the letter.` she said, adding the other teachers had been discussing donating money on their own. `I certainly didn’t encourage a fundraiser at that point.`
Kooper’s quick action made Brown realize that her students are really listening to what she teaches and that her words really do have an impact. Now she said she may take a different approach teaching by turning these events into a unit each year.
`I’m going to have to think about the lessons I’m presenting to the students,` she said. `They’re really listening and taking in the things you say. You never know what they’ll do when they go home.`
With Nick, though, not only was she happy about the letter he wrote but also how well he was able to write the letter. With a little bit of help from his father, Koopman composed the letter with proper punctuation and grammar, she said.
Once Brown brought this to Principal Lillian Turner, she said the school started acting right away to begin raising money. She added that the fundraiser fits in with that the school is all about.
`It is sort of what our mission is at Henry Johnson,` she said. `We are a community and we always encourage to help out each other and to respect other communities. When we work together we make things happen to help others recover from devastating situations.`
Koopman said it was his first time ever getting involved with fundraising but he said he wouldn’t mind getting involved with more volunteer work. And after getting such a good response from the American Red Cross, he was happy to do what he could to help.
`I feel proud for doing it.`
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