UPDATES & NEWSLETTERS
April 18, 2023
Waldwick High School & Kenya's GRACE Students Make Local News with Virtual Shark Tank Project.
6th grade students and teachers in Kenya collaborated with Waldwick High School students to help the Kenyan students address some of the issues within their community from a business perspective. Collectively, they organized a "Shark Tank" style event, where three groups of Kenyan students identified issues that they can devise market-based solutions for. The issues included nutritional deficiency, female hygiene (period poverty), and basic needs (clean clothing). Students researched the issue and developed ideas to create actual functional businesses that they could run to address the problem. As an example, the Basic Needs group wishes to start and run a thrift store on the campus of their school. Waldwick HS students assisted with putting the issues and business propositions onto slides, helping with presentation skills, as well as evaluating/constructing budgets. TEEEM then donated prize money for each group (first, second, third place). The event took place via Zoom, where a Record reporter joined and wrote an article to share the successful initiative.
March 23-30, 2023
Millburn Hosts 2 Events, Raising over $900
In just one week, Millburn High School hosted two fun events for its community: Ebru Art Night and a book reading at the Book House. The Ebru Art Night was led by Bingul Sevimli, who demonstrated the traditional art of Turkish water marbling. Students created unique pieces of art to keep. The following week, Georgie Badiel herself read her book The Water Princess to young students. Ticket sales from both events led to over $900, which will help provide thousands of glasses of water to the villagers to Burkina Faso.
March 21, 2023
Emerson High School Paints Peruvian Mountains for a Cause
Emerson High School, one of TEEEM's newest schools, held its first event: a paint night for its club members and their families. In keeping with the theme of learning about their pod, the subject of the paintings was the mountains of Peru. With ticket sales, students raised over $1,000 to support the medical center and microloan programs in Uratari.
March 19
Pascack Valley Teacher Runs NYC Half Marathon with Nyaka
Pascack Valley teacher advisor and avid runner, Leah Jerome, ran the NYC Half Marathon with Nyaka, raising $1,000 for the Grandmothers Program in Uganda.
March 18, 2023
Pascack Valley Organizes Season-Long Point Pledge Fundraiser
Students of the Pascack Valley Burkina Faso pod ran a season-long fundraiser, where they had supporters of their Varsity basketball teams pledge per point. The boys' team scored 1,705 points and the girls' team scored 1,357 points, totaling 3,062 points throughout the season. Having encouraged point pledges, the students raised over $4,000 throughout the season. All funds are being allocated to fix wells in Burkina Faso, where millions of glasses of water will become accessible to villagers outside Ouagadougou.
March 6-14, 2023
Glen Rock High School Raises $500+ for Shoes for the Students of Kenya
Despite being one of our newest schools, Glen Rock High School students have already proven active. This week, they held two bake sales, Jersey day, and general donation requests, where they raised over $500. All funds are specifically designated to help purchase shoes for the children of the Greater GRACE Academic Center,
February 16, 2023
Hackensack HS Expands its Annual Teacher Talent Show by Adding Student Competition
Having held heir first Teacher Talent Show last year, Hackensack High School students upped their game even further this year by adding students to the competition. Having been massively successful each time, students raised another $1,400 for the Uratari Medical Center in Peru while strengthening the school climate.
February 15, 2023
TEEEM Hosts Inaugural Mid-Year Workshop
TEEEM held its second event of the academic year, its inaugural Mid-Year Workshop. Over 100 students at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where they learned about cultural interconnectedness and identity. Guest speakers, Dr. Guerda Nicolas of Ayiti Community Trust and Dr. Jason Scorza of FDU, spoke to our students about community and cosmopolitan education. Students were then guided through personal discussion by FDU Student Ambassadors, where they "visited" our sites and explored how culture and identity go hand-in-hand.
February 12, 2023
Joseph Matara's 2nd Visit to Glen Rock High School - World Cultures Week
Glen Rock High School held its annual World Cultures Week this week, but this year, they had a special guest. GRACE Project Founder & CEO, Joseph Matara, visited the school for the second time and became an active member of the day. He and the students of Glen Rock ran a table with items local items and goods from Kenya. Joseph spoke with the student body about his story and the origins of the GRACE Project.
February 9, 2023
Bergen County Academies Joins TEEEM & Hosts First Event
TEEEM welcomed its newest school, Bergen County Academies, who then quickly ran their first event: a paint night. One of TEEEM's most popular events, many enjoyed a colorful night of fun while supporting the community of Bak Dov Primary in Cambodia. Students raised $1,300+ in just one night.
January 25, 2023
Millburn's Pilots Coffee House Event
Students of the Millburn Peru pod hosted their first Coffee House style Talent Show event, which featured a wide range of performances. Having raised over $200, their efforts helped contribute to the healthcare and microlending programs for the high Andean village of Uratari.
January 16, 2023
Pascack Valley Boxes 1,500 LBS of Donated Clothing Over MLK Weekend
Pascack Valley High School's Lakota pod had yet another tremendously successful event. Collectively, students organized a community-wide clothing drive, where 1,500 pounds of gently-worn clothing were donated. On a Monday off from school, the club helped sort through and box all clothing, then shipped them directly to the Okini Market on the Pine Ridge Reservation for their market's grand opening. TEEEM donated $1,000 on behalf of PVHS students for such a wonderful initiative.
January 15, 2023
TEEEM Joins Venmo
TEEEM has officially created a charity-based Venmo account @TEEEM_inc. This Venmo account will not only help collect donations, but will help students run fundraisers using easy, convenient methods of donation collection. Share the official name @TEEEM_inc or use the QR code to donate or add to your fundraising events!
January 13, 2023
Waldwick Raises $1,300+ with Help from a Local Alumnus Restaurant Owner
Waldwick High School students ran a local Dine & Donate event through an alumnus who owns a local restaurant. Bombay Hut, an Indian restaurant in downtown Waldwick, donated 1/3 of their day's sales to TEEEM, totaling over $1,300. All funds support childcare and education at the Greater GRACE Academic Center in Kisii, Kenya.
December 2022
Joseph Matara Visits TEEEM's Newest School
Glen Rock High School has officially joined TEEEM! As the newest member of the Kenya pod, GRACE Project Founder & CEO, Joseph Matara, paid the students a special visit, where he discussed his personal story growing up in Kenya and what motivated him to start the GRACE Project. Students are now discussing ways in which they can infuse the content they're learning in class with various TEEEM projects to help students in Kisii, Kenya obtain an education in an attempt to break the cycle of poverty.
December 2022
Millburn Sells Crepes & Water Droplets
Teacher advisor Deniz Ekin even decorated
her classroom door with a bucket filled with water for students to practice lifting 55 lbs of water to get a glimpse of the water crisis in Burkina Faso. They also had Georgie Badiel as a virtual guest speaker in their French Business class! These funds and awareness help contribute to GBF's female empowerment and engineering program.
November 29, 2022
Pascack Valley Hosts Hypnosis Night
Pascack Valley's Lakota pod hosted Vegas-famous hypnotist, John Cerbone. Sixteen brave volunteers made their way to the stage to be hypnotized, happily singing and dancing (and sleeping?!) in front of the audience. Having brought in over $600, it begs the question: what other kinds of unique events can our students host?
November 17-19, 2022
Northern Highlands Helps Raise $20,000+ in Days!
21 NHRHS students took a field trip to the French American Academies in Englewood and Jersey City, where they read Georgie Badiel's "The Water Princess" and "Water is Here" in both English and French. French American annual water walk. Two days later, NHRHS students held their annual 5K. In less than one week, Northern Highlands and FAA have raised enough money to build a brand new solar-powered Oasis well, providing millions of clean glasses of water to thousands of people in Burkina Faso!
November 6, 2022
Mountain Lakes Teacher Runs NYC Marathon with Nyaka
Upon learning that Nyaka has a team for the world-famous NYC Marathon, they were eager to have one of their own teachers, Dave Leshnower, run in support of TEEEM, Nyaka, and the Mountain Lakes School District. Briarcliff Middle School teacher advisor, Erik Lih, and Social Studies Supervisor, Darrell Fusco, helped organize three fundraisers for their students to partake in to support Nyaka and Mr. Leshnower's marathon spot with their team. In just weeks, Mountain Lakes raised over $6,000!
September 1, 2022
TEEEM Gets New Logo
Still flush with its bright, unique colors, TEEEM had adopted a brand new logo. Adding a flare of fun with its 3 Es serving as interlinked people, the new logo highlights the collaborative nature of our mission, embodying much of what TEEEM is all about. A special thanks to Martin & Wai from Fruit Machine Designs for creating a great logo!
August 23, 2022 | Kenya Pod
Waldwick High School Pilots Tutoring Program
This past summer, in collaboration with the Greater GRACE Academic Center in Kisii, Kenya, Waldwick High School's teacher advisor, Ted Opderbeck, and his students developed a virtual tutoring program. Sessions included science experiment ice-breakers, meet & greets, reading with 3rd-5th graders, Swahili lessons, and cultural songs & dance. The first of its kind at TEEEM, WHS & the GRACE Project have set the bar for innovative ways to connect communities from over 7,000 miles away. TEEEM was proud to donate $2,000 to GRACE Project on behalf of Waldwick High School.
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