Glastonbury Public Schools -- Glastonbury, CT

by Kate Grabowski Clark, Teacher, Glastonbury, CT


The idea, as the web link describes, came from a unit I was teaching that had the students developing an architectural design for an African community. I saw the PlayPump ad in the New York Times, and absolutely LOVED it. My four grade 5 students, Willa, Emily., Kyran and Zach, whom I teach within the gifted program in our district (a photo of them is on the site as well), became very excited when I asked if they would like to do something to raise money for the pump. We decided that SELLING water made the most sense- it is healthy, and of course, everyone needs it to survive- it links us all. The 4 in WATER 4 WATER is significant- there are four of them (my students) and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, we had read somewhere that over 4,000 children die each day of water borne diseases. I have a sign in my classroom that states- "WHAT WILL YOUR CONTRIBUTION BE?" This question drives much of the instruction that takes place in my classroom and they certainly wanted to make a contribution.

In the six months they sold water, nobody ever once said, "Ms. GC, do we have to keep doing this every morning?" And, during the last days of school, I tried to tell them that during special school days and the last week of school that maybe they didn’t need to sell water so they could have a bit of a break, and they would look at me like I was crazy and say, “We can’t stop now! We can’t SKIP days!” They even came up with a teacher delivery service that had students delivering bottles of water to teachers’ desks before school if a teacher would buy a bottle a day for a month at a time.

Initially, the atmosphere in the district related to the project was certainly powerful and energetic, but I think the most significant change as time wore on was how SERIOUS we all became about this responsibility we had of trying to care for others. As we learned more and more about the DIRE needs and SERIOUSNESS of the water crisis, it became apparent to me, and I know others, how critical it was to never forget the reality of the people's lives in Africa that we were trying to affect. We were awed by this truly HUGE responsibility we had taken on (it wasn't just this "cool" project anymore), and humbled by what we were doing. They would actually reprimand each other when occasionally a student would be “late” at the water selling table!

The originating students (from one of the schools in Glastonbury) presented this to representatives from 5 other schools in Glastonbury (that were all bussed to that school by the supt.) in a Powerpoint Presentation they created when it was decided to expand the project to all the elementary schools in town. This effort connected all the students in the community with a common goal of buying and selling water for Africans. We did not email other schools, but they all hung posters, ran raffles (every time you buy a bottle of water, you get a ticket, at the end of the week a ticket is pulled and someone receives a free book) and created punchcards (buy 10 bottles and the principal will donate one), and many other incentives to get everyone excited!

RandomKid came into the picture after I saw the Frontline video with Trevor (RoundAbout creator for the PlayPump water system) and I posted my description of our project on the PBS Frontline website. Dana (RandomKid Director) and/or Trevor saw it and she contacted me in Connecticut (called me at school). We spoke and I agreed to take a look at RandomKid's mission and thought that our project was a great fit with what you are trying to achieve. I discussed our Superintendent in Glastonbury, and we agreed we would be honored to accept a contribution of $2500 from the sales in Iowa and California to help begin a national effort by schoolchildren to fund Playpumps, or other water related projects. We hope to continue to sell water and in turn, give back to additional pumps that RandomKid’s children raise money for in the future. (RandomKid has) worked with non-stop energy to create a nationwide movement and have created great momentum so far!