Pennington School students sew hybrid sanitary napkins for girls in a refugee camp in Malawi.PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PENNINGTON SCHOOL
Over the past three years, students at The Pennington School have been using their STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) skills to solve real-world problems and provide needed resources to the schools at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi, Africa.
This year, Pennington students have refurbished iPads, provided online math tutoring sessions, designed a hybrid sanitary napkin, and developed lessons on solar power for the high school at the African camp.
Recently, the Pennington School community service group began collaborating with the nonprofit organization Nine Scholars, which was co-founded by a group of students from various boarding schools across the United States and China. The intention of the collaboration is to expand this program by providing more donated materials for the refugee schools and to increase the understanding of the refugee crisis to other students living internationally.
Pennington School Trustee Jim Wang connected Pennington to Nine Scholars, and Trustee Brenda Martini O’loughlin is supporting the collaboration between the two schools with grant funding.
The first shipment to Malawi from the joint effort between Pennington and Nine Scholars included 12 refurbished iPads, an iPad charging system, 200 face shields, 400 reusable face masks, and 1,000 disposable masks.
In addition, The Pennington School has donated 10 refurbished iPads, an Owl 360-degree camera, a large-screen smart TV, 10 laptops, and numerous solar panel kits.
Pennington students have also designed hands-on learning experiences for the students at the refugee camp, and these technologies will help continue to connect these two groups of students across the globe.
* This article was provided by The Pennington School.