HIBBARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEARNS
A LITTLE GESTURE CAN HAVE
A BIG IMPACT
BY ALANNA BROWN
A
s we, a group of strangers with
video cameras and lots of equipment, walked into Ms. Karrel’s
fifth-grade classroom the normally rambunctious students suddenly were shy. The
videographer told them “act normal” and
“ignore the camera,” but of course the students continued to look at the camera and
giggle as it moved around the room.
It was May and Pennies for Peace (P4P)
was visiting Hibbard Elementary School in
Chicago. The school kindly had agreed to let
us film the students as they completed their
latest P4P campaign.
Ms. Karrel’s class had been researching
and learning about Central Asia for several
weeks already. When we arrived, and they
had adjusted to our cameras, the students
were eager to tell us what they had learned.
“Did you know just one penny can help
many students in Pakistan, Afghanistan,
and Tajikistan?” one girl asked me.
But the students weren’t the only ones
having fun. The teachers were feeding off
the kids’ energy, happy to see them learning
about small gestures of kindness that could
in turn have a big impact.
“Service learning is important to our
work in the classroom because it shows the
students that the skills that we develop in
class have a real world purpose,” said Ms.
Karrel. “Service learning empowers the students. It shows them that their voices can be
heard and that they can make a difference
even at a young age.”
For two weeks, four fifth-grade classes
had been collecting pennies, searching
under couch cushions for spare change,
and asking family and friends for contributions. The hard work behind them, it was
finally time to celebrate. After lunch, the
30 | JOURNEY OF HOPE
fifth graders gathered in the auditorium.
Students expectantly took their seats at the
tables. The teachers brought in the pennies
— boxes and plastic containers full of them
— and placed them next to a big box at the
front of the room.
Excitement was on the students’ faces as
the teacher called up two students at a time
to dump the full penny containers into the
box. When the first container was dumped,
a cheer went up, echoing off the auditorium
walls. In the end, it was announced that the
school had raised more than $1,000.
A few months later we checked in with
Ms. Karrel. She was happy to report the
children “felt proud and excited to continue
their service work. The students were more
observant when it came to issues they heard
about in the news, and they began questioning and discussing ways they could help.”
P4P brought the school together.
“P4P created an opportunity for the students to rally together to put all their efforts
into a shared goal,” Ms. Karrel continued.
“Upon completion of the fundraising the
students were able to celebrate together in
their success. It was truly a time that bonded
our class and a memory they will cherish.”
Ms. Karrel said she would highly recommend the program to any educator who
wants to bring service learning to their
classroom.
“I think this program is one that is easy to
implement into the classroom, it aligns with
Common Core [curricula], and it shows
our students that they have the power to
make a change in their own communities
and beyond,” she said.
It seems that the school-wide event already has the younger students talking
about Pennies for Peace.
“My new group of students remembered
CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE