July 2004, “Ring, Ring, Ring.” Why would somebody call me at 9:45 in the morning? I wanted to sleep. My ears could no longer handle that irritating noise. I picked up the phone. It was from Global Kids. “We’d like to have you as part of our two-month Global Kids’ Summer HRAP.” I did not know what initially HRAP stood for but I knew it was going to be a good experience; similar to the time I spent as part of Global Kids’ leadership at my school. I accepted the invitation without a question.
Two weeks later, I was surprised at the first HRAP meeting; students from all over the
New York City gathered in one tiny room. The supervisor welcomed everybody. As part of the Human Rights Activist Project (HRAP), we were going to explore issues of human rights and access to education. After two months, all participants would create a final project based on either one of the topics. The first four weeks of the program, my eyes were filled with tears from watching documentaries on the genocide in
Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in
Yugoslavia. I never thought anyone could take such horrendous actions to get rid of one innocent group.
The second month of HRAP, my jaw dropped while I watched a video on financial aid. I used to think all Americans were able to get money they needed for their education. My assumptions were wrong. Immigrants and international students suffered enormously because they can not obtain adequate financial aid packages due to their status. Low-income American families forced their children into the military in hopes to get free tuition. However, most soldiers do not receive much aid for higher education. Many high school graduates have a hard time finding money to cover the entire cost of education because they do not know where and how to obtain scholarships and financial aid. At the end of the program, my fellow HRAP members and I created a scholarship walk to raise money for
New York City high school students.
It was painful a process of making the scholarship walk a reality. My fellow HRAP members and I worked hard everyday for two months. We contacted everybody we could think of in
New York City to donate money. I spent countless hours writing a letter to city council members to participate in this event. I walked around the
New York City like a crazy lady, asking people to come to this event. I wanted to be successful because I wanted to help high school seniors to have some sort of money to go to college. I believe in karma. If I help the seniors of class 2005 to go to college, I know that when I am a senior, someone out there would help me too.
When September came (I was a junior), everybody in HRAP went back to school and hand out flyers to our friends and teachers to come to this event in October.
It was a big paid off. In October, the Global Kids’ First Scholarship Walk came true. There were about 150 people participated in this event and raised almost $7,000 dollars. Because of the success of the first scholarship walk, Global Kids decided to have another one. This time, it was for my class, class of 2006. And this time, they gave responsibility to me and Latir, a Global Kids peer trainer to create the second annual scholarship walk. The second walk did not turn out so great because of the weather. However, Global Kids raised more money than last year. They raised close to $9,000. Now, they want to make it an annual event where I get to be in charge in writing a permit for space and promoting it. So next year, I will be back doing something like this again. Class of 2007, you're next!
If you are interested in donating money for the scholarship walk, you can log on to https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=3146
Hmm that is pretty cool. THanks for sharing.