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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, August 15, 2014 | 10 Oakville teachers travel to Kenya to help build schoolhouse by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff Two Oakville teachers are taking their dedication to education a step further as they travel to Kenya to help build a schoolhouse this month. Glenburnie independent school Grade 5 teacher Sarah Ivany and pre-kindergarten teacher Christine Johnston left Aug. 9 for the Kenyan village Ngosuani, approximately 150 kilometres west of Nairobi, to help build the school. Glenburnie held a fundraising campaign last year for the schoolhouse as part of Free the Children's Me to We program -- an initiative Ivany and Johnston brought to their school community. It has helped Glenburnie students better understand the difficulties faced by children in the developing world, notes Johnston. "The students are definitely a lot more globally aware," she said. "They've been more in touch with what's going on in the media. We've done a lot of talks on where their clothing comes from, so that they're aware of that kind of thing... (and) to go along with the whole campaign." One of Ivany's students had approached her with the idea of Glenburnie hosting a Free the Children penny collection program for safe water in Kenya. It was very successful. The non-profit organization then contacted the teachers, inviting them to an appreciation night. "We went and from that moment forward, we Glenburnie School teachers Sarah Ivany and Chrissy Johnstonare travelling to Kenya this summer to help build a school. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog) loved the organization, loved all of its campaigns and took the ball and went running with it," said Ivany. Founded by Free the Children's Craig and Marc Kielburger, the Me to We program is a social enterprise with the mission to build a better world through the offering of international volunteer trips, leadership training programs and materials, and books that address issues of positive change. The fundraiser for a schoolhouse in Kenya was Glenburnie's first since the Me to We program was adopted at the school and Ivany says "it was unbelievable the snowball effect it created." Tasked with raising $100 for each brick to be used in the schoolhouse's construction, Glenburnie raised $8,500, through various fundraising events while some students even donated their birthday money. Ivany and Johnston also organized fundraiser barbecues and car washes -- like the one held June 21 at Glenburnie, in support of the school's next campaign -- to raise just more than $5,000 to help build a well in the same Kenyan village as the schoolhouse. In addition, money has been collected from art shows held by Glenburnie's Me to We Artisans, an after-school program for Grades 1-5 where students make and sell crafts throughout the year. "Building the school (in Kenya) was a huge energy boost for Glenburnie -- the community of parents, the staff and students really came together. It was really neat because we're a small school (of 250 students)," Ivany said. "I think for me, especially... we saw a lot of community involvement in the initiatives... that feeling of everyone working together for a common goal has been really empowering." Ivany and Johnston are covering their own travel and accommodation costs for the two weeks they are at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Narok County, Kenya. The teachers said bringing the Me to We program to Glenburnie has become an initiative the entire school has embraced. The Me to We website (www.metowe.com) has curriculums teachers can download free of charge. "What we do," says Ivany, "is find a lesson plan we want the whole school to work on and adapt it to each of the grades, so that even our kindergarten kids can take part." excellence in dance. dancing ­ refined. Elizabeth Ferenc Artistic Director & President MA, BA (Hons), LRAD, ARAD 379 Davis Road L6J 2X2, Oakville, ON classical ballet modern dance tap jazz contemporary hip hop adult ballet musical theatre and stage acro RAD and ISTD Syllabi summer programs Professional Programs in Intensive Accelerated Ballet and Vocational Jazz & Stage Now Accepting Registrations for the 2014/15 Dance Season (Ages 3 to Adult)! (All Registration Forms Available Online at www.balletomane.ca) Since 1973, Balletomane has been providing premier dance training in Oakville following the professional syllabi of both the RAD and ISTD. In August 2014, we are offering the following Summer Programs: Vocational Intensive Summer Sessions: Aug 18 to 29; 9:30AM - 3:30PM *Group 1 - 8 to 9 years of age *Group 2 - 10 to 11 years of age *Group 3 - 12 to 13 years of age *Group 4 - 14+ years of age Summer Program Registration Forms Available Online at www.balletomane.ca Phone: 905.844.9555 Email: info@balletomane.ca Website: www.balletomane.ca