Coming Full Circle: Leah’s Sister Schools Story
As an undergraduate studying public policy and political science, Leah is a college student who was looking to gain experience working in the nonprofit sector. While applying to Sister Schools, a Seattle based organization connecting students in Seattle to students in Uganda through school supply drives, she found something familiar about the mission and immediately recalled her fond memories as a student in the program herself.
Leah was about 7 years old when she was a participant and recalls the lively school assembly where the fall presentation occurred. The presentation was her first exposure to global nonprofit work. Learning about the lives of children in Uganda sparked her curiosity for children like her in countries all over the world. She particularly remembers how empowered she felt by the presentation saying, “They really made us feel like children were able to make the most impact.”
Coming home from school that day, Leah was excited to tell her mom about her mission to gather school supplies for the collection. She vividly remembers eagerly rushing into the store and putting everything a student would need in a school day into a backpack to be donated. Students from all grade levels took part in the collection and the school hallways were lined with donation boxes that children would drop their supplies into throughout the year.
As spring rolled in, the students gathered in the gym once more for the return presentation. Spirits were high as she and her classmates saw each other on the display, pointing and calling out names of the recognized faces, photographed with their school supply item in hand. Video clips of the grinning students in Uganda who received the supplies were played on the display as well. Seeing the items she and her classmates had donated in the hands of their receiving student was a joyful moment, and she remembers how it left her wanting to give again. “The thing that you realized,” she recalls, “was that people in other countries are also kids like us who want to go to school and have fun and want to have a good school experience overall.”
Looking back, Leah says Sister Schools stood out from other collection drives she had seen growing up because students could see where their donations went, and the sense of community that was created by the school-wide effort.
As an adult, Leah now carries a greater awareness of the social issues around her. Her experience with Sister Schools opened her eyes to the fact that opportunities aren’t afforded equally to everyone, deepening her sense of empathy. Now part of Sister School’s internship program, which gives college students real world non-profit experience, Leah works as a Grant Intern where she works on grant research and drafts proposals and reports. She's excited to have an up-close look into the non-profit world, especially to be able to come full circle with the program that first broadened her understanding of the world and her ability to support others.
Reflecting on the importance of Sister Schools’ work she says, “I think it's important because it sparks awareness for the world, current issues, and living outside of your bubble. When you’re a child, everything is the way it is because that’s the way it is for you.” From her experience, Leah learned how people can make a difference with the very things they think are normal or average in their own day to day. She highlights, “The earlier you start to realize that, the sooner you can make a change.”
