What We Accomplished

This was just one of the many projects we have accomplished.

The following is a letter from a student explaining some of the ways the IMPACT Program has made a difference:

March 27, 2008

Dear Arizona Republic:

I'm a student at Frank Borman Middle School here in Phoenix. This school has a really bad reputation. People think we are all gangsters and taggers who terrorize the neighborhood. They see that we are poor and they think we are ghetto.

The reality is that we are actually doing a lot of projects that are helping local, national and international charities. We have what we call the Impact Program. This program teaches students many valuable skills and lessons. This program also teaches you the value of community service and how good it feels to help others. It teaches you valuable technology skills and it enables us to use our creativity to do things we never thought possible.

We have done some pretty amazing projects.I will give you a total recap on our greatest projects that helped many people or helped make some wonderful memories. We have done many projects and fundraisers that help charities all over the world and locally. We have held dances, sold candy, worked with Rollero and organized a car wash all to raise money for Life Straws in Africa. These straws can help people in Africa so that they don't have to walk so far to get clean water they can drink water through the straw and it purifies it. These straws will help save lives. So far we have raised over $1,000! We as students volunteered at the food bank after we had donated 800 cans of food. We went to the Andre House. We painted over the graffiti in our neighborhood for two straight weekends. So far, the students in our team have volunteered over 1,500 hours. Many of our projects include the Social Awareness Club and they have done over 500 hours.

It's more than just community service, though. I'm really proud of the murals that we have painted in our school. We're already on our second mural this year. It is a thank you mural to all the people who have helped make our education happen. We are also doing a memorial art project for all the people who have died crossing the border. I'm one of the many students who give up our lunch time and our before and after school time to do the book clubs, tutoring, leadership classes, newscast and other projects that we have worked on. We have designed websites, created documentaries, recorded podcasts and so many things that you don't expect a bunch of junior high kids to do.

So the reason I am writing this is that I think that the teachers and students have done some amazing things. You should check out our website at thesocialvoice.com/impact or even just check out our online magazine at thesocialvoice.com. And if you think that what we have done is cool, you should do a story about us. I want the community to see that there are many students who care and who want to change things in our city and in our world.

Sincerely:

Andromeda Student