Two representatives from W/NP(Linda Weber and Olivia Pies) recently attended the Partners of the Americas Youth Engagement Workshop in Washington DC. Linda is a retired teacher with a wealth of experience working with youth, Vice President of W/NP, and a very active volunteer. Olivia became involved with W/NP through the
Youth Ambassadors program in 2007, and continues to be an inspiration for the current youth projects. This past
Saturday, at the W/NP Student Chapter meeting in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Olivia shared with the high school group why she remains involved and about her experience in DC. (Topics of focus at the workshop included how successful youth programs have been implanted in the past and plans for the future to continue offering opportunities for youth.)
Why are youth projects and activities a priority for W/NP? 2007 Youth Ambassadors Shawn Clair recently commented, “I always try to keep in touch as I go along my journey in life, because I feel that I learned so much
being a Youth Ambassador and it has helped me to open my mind to new possibilities and opportunities that I can take advantage of.”
The orange shirts in the photos represent the high school student chapter’s participation in the 6th Annual “I Went the Distance” Bike/Hike event, a month long collaborative effort –biking and hiking the distance between Wisconsin and Nicaragua. It’s a call for people-to-people action as a way to raise awareness and help those in need by promoting an event youth from both countries can participate in. Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners works to provide
community and social development projects as well as humanitarian relief to the people of Nicaragua, through a wide variety of ways, mainly through people-to-people connections. What makes the Bike/Hike event unique and special is that not only are people/students in WI participating in this state wide event, but our counterparts in Nicaragua are also joining in as well. By working together, we can reach our goal. Wearing the “I Went the Distance!” t-shirt helps spark conversation and spread the word as you are “biking” and “hiking”
around Wisconsin and Nicaragua during the month of October. You can join in and sign up today at: http://www.wisnic.org/index.php/news/upcoming-events/77-bike-hike-event-2
Youth working together, do make a significant difference in the lives of others - thanks everyone for your support!
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WNP is creating a new skill opportunity with the start of the Black Ceramic class. Students started by learning how to work with clay, making every single piece shaped without a spinning pottery wheel, just by hand and with manual inexpensive tools. The most challenging part comes at the end when the pieces needed to be fired in order to turn them black. The group had excellent results as all the pieces they made survived the firing process. When you are a beginner ceramic student, it is not easy to get it just right. Saturday after the hard work to fire the pieces, participants were happy and felt very proud of their special ceramic art. Special thanks to Norma Dolores Rodriguez, mother of Lizbeth, who kindly shared with the group her experience about making black ceramics.
Thank you to all who are helping the Learning Center Classes to continue, it's very important to the students who are able to make a product and earn some income for daily living.
We thank you.
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Special thanks to the Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners student chapter for continuing their exceptional planning efforts and clearly demonstrating their desire to stay involved with the youth projects. The photos below are from a packing day at the Stevens Point W/NP warehouse in preparation for an upcoming shipment. The group of students from SPASH (Stevens Point Area Senior High School) came out to learn about what happens after someone donates an item for Nicaragua. There is a fine tuned process in place that assures every donation sent from the Stevens Point warehouse in Wisconsin, travels 2,350 miles ending up in Managua, Nicaragua ready to be delivered to the intended recipients. For example, the AAUW (American Association of University Women) Wausau chapter put together a collection of teacher backpacks for educators in Nicaragua. The backpacks were filled with items that would be helpful to a teacher (pencils, pens, paper, scissors, markers, stickers, flash cards and paper clips). Each backpack was marked with a pink or orange ribbon as a flag to the staff in Nicaragua, that this donation is designated for a teacher rather than what would normally go to a student, teachers need support too! The students (joined by their teachers too who had collected and shared their teaching resources) unloaded and packed the AAUW backpacks along with the backpacks and school supply items they had collected for students and schools in Nicaragua. Only a couple weeks after the packing day, the items departed via 40 ft. container from Stevens Point and arrived June 6, 2012, to Nicaragua.
