Photos
George Washington Middle School student Liam Davis-Wallace was thinking about bones. Not just any kind of bones, but human bones. He was thinking of human bones that might be lying around on the ground. It was unnerving.
It was part of the curriculum at school to help students better understand international affairs.
The Alexandria City Public Schools study unit is related to an event planned for June on the National Mall—One Million Bones, a collaborative art installation recognizing victims and survivors who have been killed or displaced by genocides in Somalia, Burma, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Artists, activists and students are making “bones” to showcase the issue.
“In my school I was told about Somalian suffering and how our school was going to do a fundraiser. Everyone was going to make a clay bone and each bone was worth $1,” Liam told Patch via email. “I felt that I wanted to help with more than just $1, and I wanted to feel like I was really making a difference. By making my own fundraiser I felt like I was contributing more than just the $1. When I'm doing my laps, I'm going to try harder than if I was just doing it for the fun of it.”
Liam had come home a little different that day after studying the International Baccalaureate curriculum. “It struck him that many families had been separated from each other. They didn’t have what they needed to survive,” said Liam’s mother, Jessica Wallace. “He was bummed out.”
She checked in with the school’s guidance counselor and talked to Emmet Rosenfeld, who is an ACPS coordinator for the IB program.
After determining that the content was age appropriate, the family, based in Alexandria’s Rosemont neighborhood, brainstormed about how to turn around Liam’s mood and energy into something positive.
He would do a triathlon fundraiser and donate the money to Somalian children through UNICEF.
Liam swims at the YMCA and he’s on the club’s Sea Dragons team. He also participated in the recent Kelley Cares and Turkey Trot fundraising races in Del Ray.
On Feb. 24, he’s going to raise money for children in Somalia by doing as many laps as he can at the Y as well bike and run as many times around his block as he can.
He has sponsors for his event “Liam’s Laps through Somalia” through his UNICEF event page and seeks to raise at least $1,000.
“When it comes to saving lives, I want to be an overachiever,” Liam said.
For more news about Alexandria City Public Schools and its students, sign up for the Old Town Alexandria Patch daily newsletter and like Old Town Alexandria Patch on Facebook.
In This article
-
-
-
George Washington Middle School
1005 Mt Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA -
YMCA
420 E Monroe Ave, Alexandria, VA
Suzanne
10:23 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Kids with big hearts can change the world!
Emmet Rosenfeld
10:34 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Liam's desire to make a difference is a great example of how IB helps kids become global citizens. As coordinator for the Middle Years Program, I want to offer a few more words about how we attempt to present this sort of content in a way that is appropriate for middle schoolers who are just beginning to develop a concept of the world beyond their own experience.
WE ARE ALL CONNECTED. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
These are the significant concepts that kids should take away from the unit, which develops key IB principles including “international-mindedness” and active engagement with community and service, as well as promoting information literacy and research skills.
“One Million Bones” itself is a large-scale public art project which will take place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in June 2013. 1,000,000 handmade bones will be displayed as a visible petition against humanitarian crises in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. Each bone generates $1 for international aid in these regions, up to $500,000.
Students at GW will learn about a region of the world where youth are in conflict, make bones out of clay, and may even volunteer in June to actually create the installation on the National Mall. For more information about this unit or the IB program in general please visit "IB at GW" at http://blogs.acpsk12.org/ibatgw/.
lawgal
12:21 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2013
The story and the comments above provide an excellent example of a school experience parents should scrutinize closely. Political indoctrination of young students is unacceptable to many. School instructional time is utilized here to promote more diversion of resources to third world countries and some type of requirement of service.
The United States is a democracy. Citizens are not required to provide service to the government, politicians, or an organization of anyone else's choosing. If some families wish to participate in charitable endeavors, they are free to do so.
The lesson on international conflict can be presented more quickly to older students, who are more capable of processing the information without becoming emotionally involved.
Beth
1:03 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Liam, we need more overachievers like you in our school system! Good luck with your amazing fundraising goal to help the families of Somalia! You are an amazing young man.