When Concord-Carlisle High School teacher Samantha Fox-Morrow first offered a social-studies elective called international issues, it was her students who pointed out a problem with the class.
"All we do is talk about civil wars and AIDS and things like that," they grumbled.
Though they didn't fully articulate it, Fox-Morrow perceived the essence of their complaint: After devoting so much class time to learning about problems facing the world, the students wanted to roll up their sleeves and take part in something more proactive.
These days, Fox-Morrow lets each class vote on whether they want to do a project addressing a specific problem they've studied. Despite the extra work involved, eight of her last nine international issues classes have voted to do a project.
To expose the students to a range of options, Fox-Morrow invited speakers from several nonprofit organizations to talk to the class. One visitor mesmerized the group with her account of founding an orphanage and school in a remote village of rural Cambodia.
It was Dr. Nancy Hendrie, retired Concord pediatrician and founder of The Sharing Foundation.
Hendrie described to the teenagers how when she first visited Cambodia in 1997, she was shocked by the disparity between the impoverished existence of the country's rural villagers -- many of whom were still suffering from the effects of the Khmer Rouge regime -- and the affluent lives of the patients she treated in Concord and surrounding towns.
She founded The Sharing Foundation in 1998, and since then has worked on several initiatives aimed at bettering the lives of Cambodians, focusing her efforts in the village of Roteang.
In 2000, the foundation built its cornerstone project, Roteang Orphanage, where local staff care for sick, disabled, impoverished or orphaned children from the region. But that facility was only the beginning of the foundation's efforts.
Today, the entire village benefits from new educational, vocational, public-health and community-development programs.
Hendrie's account of her work captivated the students at Concord-Carlisle High, and school social worker Kelli Kirshstein provided additional testimony to The Sharing Foundation's merit. She is a foundation board member who first became involved when she adopted a baby in Cambodia five years ago.
Unanimous in their resolve, students launched Project Cambodia and got to work.
Their efforts were far-ranging, according to Fox-Morrow.
"Students from the international issues class went out in pairs to visit each homeroom in our school and do a brief presentation on Project Cambodia," she said.
Along with collecting money, the goal was to raise awareness of problems facing the developing world.
"The class made posters, put together a slide-show presentation, and even presented their efforts to the School Committee. They raised additional money by selling a T-shirt they'd designed and also selling the purses and handbags made by women at the Roteang sewing school (a vocational program the foundation launched). They also circulated a petition asking Sen. (Edward) Kennedy to support education throughout the developing world."
The class's largest fundraising initiative was a dinner auction held in the winter. According to Fox-Morrow, students oversaw every detail of the event: They organized the menu, cooked the food, solicited auction items and baked desserts.
They visited local businesses to acquire in-kind donations, including coffee provided by Dunkin' Donuts and rolls from two Concord bakeries, Sally Ann's and Nashoba Brook. The school bands and chorus provided live music.
The auction brought in about $4,000, and now Project Cambodia had raised more than twice that amount.
Concord-Carlisle junior Spencer Holland signed up for Fox-Morrow's class to learn more about international relations.
"When Dr. Hendrie came to talk to our class about The Sharing Foundation, I was amazed by the statistics she gave us about poverty in Cambodia," he said. "I always knew in the back of my mind that things aren't as good in some other countries as they are in the U.S., but learning about the lives of the children in Cambodia made it more real to me. It just made me realize how much we still have to do if we want to change things."
The notion that a successful local pediatrician would choose to devote her retirement to this cause caught Holland's attention as well.
This is exactly the effect that Fox-Morrow was hoping for when she designed the class.
"One of my primary goals is for my students to open themselves up to the world beyond their needs and to look at how different the lives are of people in other regions of the world," she said. "I hope the experience inspires them to seek ways to be active citizens of their community and their country."
"All we do is talk about civil wars and AIDS and things like that," they grumbled.
Though they didn't fully articulate it, Fox-Morrow perceived the essence of their complaint: After devoting so much class time to learning about problems facing the world, the students wanted to roll up their sleeves and take part in something more proactive.
These days, Fox-Morrow lets each class vote on whether they want to do a project addressing a specific problem they've studied. Despite the extra work involved, eight of her last nine international issues classes have voted to do a project.
To expose the students to a range of options, Fox-Morrow invited speakers from several nonprofit organizations to talk to the class. One visitor mesmerized the group with her account of founding an orphanage and school in a remote village of rural Cambodia.
It was Dr. Nancy Hendrie, retired Concord pediatrician and founder of The Sharing Foundation.
Hendrie described to the teenagers how when she first visited Cambodia in 1997, she was shocked by the disparity between the impoverished existence of the country's rural villagers -- many of whom were still suffering from the effects of the Khmer Rouge regime -- and the affluent lives of the patients she treated in Concord and surrounding towns.
She founded The Sharing Foundation in 1998, and since then has worked on several initiatives aimed at bettering the lives of Cambodians, focusing her efforts in the village of Roteang.
In 2000, the foundation built its cornerstone project, Roteang Orphanage, where local staff care for sick, disabled, impoverished or orphaned children from the region. But that facility was only the beginning of the foundation's efforts.
Today, the entire village benefits from new educational, vocational, public-health and community-development programs.
Hendrie's account of her work captivated the students at Concord-Carlisle High, and school social worker Kelli Kirshstein provided additional testimony to The Sharing Foundation's merit. She is a foundation board member who first became involved when she adopted a baby in Cambodia five years ago.
Unanimous in their resolve, students launched Project Cambodia and got to work.
Their efforts were far-ranging, according to Fox-Morrow.
"Students from the international issues class went out in pairs to visit each homeroom in our school and do a brief presentation on Project Cambodia," she said.
Along with collecting money, the goal was to raise awareness of problems facing the developing world.
"The class made posters, put together a slide-show presentation, and even presented their efforts to the School Committee. They raised additional money by selling a T-shirt they'd designed and also selling the purses and handbags made by women at the Roteang sewing school (a vocational program the foundation launched). They also circulated a petition asking Sen. (Edward) Kennedy to support education throughout the developing world."
The class's largest fundraising initiative was a dinner auction held in the winter. According to Fox-Morrow, students oversaw every detail of the event: They organized the menu, cooked the food, solicited auction items and baked desserts.
They visited local businesses to acquire in-kind donations, including coffee provided by Dunkin' Donuts and rolls from two Concord bakeries, Sally Ann's and Nashoba Brook. The school bands and chorus provided live music.
The auction brought in about $4,000, and now Project Cambodia had raised more than twice that amount.
Concord-Carlisle junior Spencer Holland signed up for Fox-Morrow's class to learn more about international relations.
"When Dr. Hendrie came to talk to our class about The Sharing Foundation, I was amazed by the statistics she gave us about poverty in Cambodia," he said. "I always knew in the back of my mind that things aren't as good in some other countries as they are in the U.S., but learning about the lives of the children in Cambodia made it more real to me. It just made me realize how much we still have to do if we want to change things."
The notion that a successful local pediatrician would choose to devote her retirement to this cause caught Holland's attention as well.
This is exactly the effect that Fox-Morrow was hoping for when she designed the class.
"One of my primary goals is for my students to open themselves up to the world beyond their needs and to look at how different the lives are of people in other regions of the world," she said. "I hope the experience inspires them to seek ways to be active citizens of their community and their country."
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