Teacher Michael Schmidt was pleased but not surprised when approached by students who wanted to do a good deed.

“An amazing group of students came to me at the beginning of the year and asked if there was some way they could help another school,” said Schmidt. “They had a year’s worth of experience doing it as fifth graders when they and Miss (Shelby) Guarino raised funds for a school in Uganda. This year, they asked me to help them create a fundraiser for our sister school in Costa Rica, Cloud Forest School.

Jeremy Binkley, Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, Allison Kerkhoff, Glenn Reddy and Alex Thomas, all Gr. 6, and Zina Jawadi, Gr. 7, call themselves Peace 2 Peace and each of them made contributions in their own way, Schmidt noted. “But most importantly they showed the kind, giving nature that makes me proud to be a teacher here at Harker.

“They asked their student body to offer donations of unwanted items that Peace 2 Peace could sell at a garage sale,” Schmidt said. The group made collection containers and placed them around campus. “Every day, for over three months, the kids would gather the items that had accumulated in the bins and store them in my room. Due to some amazing donations from students, faculty and parents, Peace 2 Peace was able to raise $1,200 for Cloud Forest School.”

The benefits of the collection go beyond the money raised, though. “I love seeing such generosity extended towards our sister schools!” said Jennifer Abraham, director of global education. The students found the process rewarding. “You can’t replace the feeling of working together with your friends and teachers for a special cause,” said Gutierrez-Bujari. Binkley added, “It might have been a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun too.”