Schoolchildren offer help to tsunami survivors

Beth Slovic

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 9 a.m.

Local students absorbed the news of the tsunami disaster while at home last week during their winter vacation.

Now back at school, many of the students, with support from their teachers, are collecting money and goods to support relief efforts in those South Asian countries affected by the event.

"It was heavy on their minds," said Scott Bailey, the principal at Tanaka Elementary school, as he recalled his students' first day back in the classroom Monday. Many of his students seemed to have watched considerable news coverage, and they wanted to try to help the victims of the devastation.

From elementary schools to high schools, and from North Las Vegas to Boulder City, students and faculty members are doing whatever they can. Individually, their means are modest. But together, the students are hoping to make a larger impact, teachers and administrators said.

At Mendoza Elementary School, children are donating money and wearing blue ribbons in honor of the victims. Students at Glen Taylor Elementary School are contributing recipes for a cookbook whose proceeds will benefit a charity working in the region.

At Advanced Technologies Academy, students and teachers are collecting medical supplies and money to send to Sri Lanka. One of their school's security monitors has family there.

"We're just getting going," Jane Oler, the principal at the academy, said.

At Las Vegas High School on Monday, student council representatives decided to dedicate one minute out of every school day over the course of two weeks to a school-wide fundraising drive. So far, they've collected more than $1,500, Anna Slighting, the school's student council advisor, said.

It's a practice called a "Miracle Minute," and a handful of other schools, including Miller, Brown and O'Callaghan middle schools, are using it as well.

"They're easy to do and effective," said Slighting, explaining their appeal.

In the wake of the disaster, Clark County students' generosity has overwhelmed some teachers.

The principal of Johnson Junior High School, Terry Sobrero, purchased lunch for two of his students this week after they had donated their lunch money to their school's relief fund drive.

The fundraising enthusiasm at Long Elementary School has impressed Mary Giguere, a counselor there. "Every penny, nickle and dime counts; this has been an incredibly giving school," Giguere said.

Giguere was also impressed by the interest the students expressed in learning more about the areas affected.

"You could just see the concern that the kids themselves had," she said.

In response to their interest, many teachers have organized lesson plans drawing from the news stories.

According to Nicole Cortney, a third grade teacher at Glen Taylor Elementary School, students arrived in her classroom this week brimming with questions. The students wanted to know what occurred, where it happened and how the children of the stricken countries were coping.

" 'What did they do about school?' Did classes continue after the tsunami in those countries?," the students asked Cortney, she said.

In Charles Michel's classroom at Mendoza Elementary School, his third graders learned how tsunamis are formed. Michel also used the opportunity to teach his students about the geography of the Indian Ocean area.

"The disaster-- is something that's discussed in the classroom everyday," Michel said.

Students' efforts across Clark County are helping them turn their concern into something positive, Dolores Evans, the principal at Mendoza Elementary School said.

"They're excited about giving, and it just allows all of us to feel we're contributing ," Evans said. "While they can't be there, they can do something to help."