Tsunami disaster spurs action Tsunami disaster spurs action (January 07, 2005)

School administrators, teachers and students eager to support relief aid

by Alexandria Rocha

As the earthquake and tsunami disaster unfolded in Asia over the school district's winter break, teachers saw the tragedy as an opportunity to educate their students.

They videotaped clips of news broadcasts and saved copies of print newspapers. When school resumed Tuesday, they were prepared to talk about what is likely the worst natural disaster of their students' lives. The lessons, however, have turned into more than discussions about Southeast Asia or earthquakes.

From large-scale fund-raisers to grass-roots efforts, Palo Alto's school officials and students have stepped up to back the relief effort. As of Wednesday, the death toll of the Dec. 26 disaster had climbed to 150,000. Among them are 36 Americans.

For many of the children, it was the first time they felt so drawn to a specific cause.

"I have never felt this excited to help," said Jordan Middle School sixth-grader Alex Kershner, 11, whose neighborhood peers decided to raise funds with a hot chocolate stand.

With Liqa Alazzawy, a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Jordan, Kershner's class plans to raise $500 between the two science classes.

"It's essential for kids to have a grasp of connectedness to the global sense of community - that when something happens in another country, it really affects us here," Alazzawy said. "Five hundred dollars is one-third the cost of rebuilding a home in Sri Lanka, so the students will have a tangible goal to reach for."

At JLS Middle School, Principal Joe Di Salvo has launched what could be a statewide campaign. If his idea catches on at the Association of California School Administrator's meeting today, then JLS could be the epicenter of a statewide fund-raiser.

Di Salvo has challenged all of California's middle schools to raise $1,000 each toward the disaster. He has asked Michael Madalinski, a close friend who represents Santa Clara County on the association's middle school committee, to propose the idea.

"I was figuring conservatively that there has got to be around 1,000 middle schools. If there are and each school raises $1,000, that's $1 million," Di Salvo said.

JLS eighth-graders Jill Lau, 14, and Maribeth Rohman, 13, decided in a conversation during their Tuesday keyboarding class to launch their own fund-raiser.

"We're so fortunate to have a keyboarding class, and these people over there don't even have a house. That really got me," Lau said. "We just wanted to help people our age have what we have."

The two went to Di Salvo, who immediately included them in an executive meeting regarding what the school as a whole would do toward relief efforts. With Lau and Rohman's help, JLS will raise funds for their school's portion of the statewide challenge with admission to February's Valentine's Day dance and March's talent show. There will also be a bake sale and classroom collections.

"We're thinking of doing a bigger student event. We might have a jog-a-thon or a walk-a-thon and hopefully raise a lot of money for that," Rohman said.

Just this week, the Before School student group at Keys School on Middlefield Road finished an afghan they have been crocheting since last spring. The students are excited to donate it to Warm Up America, a disaster relief organization that gives afghans to the Red Cross when disaster strikes.

High school students have also taken action. At Gunn High School, the Southeast Asian Students Association hosted a movie night fund-raiser on Thursday, in which the proceeds will go toward the Red Cross.

Staff Writer Alexandria Rocha can be e-mailed at arocha@paweekly.com.

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