8th grade students raising money to volunteer in Dominican Republic

LYNN – KIPP Academy teacher Kadi Bertrand fell in love with the Dominican Republic when she was in college.She traveled down to the city of Cabarete and volunteered as a teacher.?I just fell in love with the Latino culture and population,” she said during a recent interview in a busy hallway at KIPP Academy.She loved the culture so much that she still goes down there every summer for at least one month to volunteer.Bertrand decided it would be a great idea to bring her students to Cabarete and expose them to a new culture and volunteering.?We have a large Latino population (in Lynn) and many of the students are from that island,” Bertrand said. “It would be great to bring them there.”Bertrand made any students interested in taking the trip write an essay on why they wanted to go. About 30 students applied and Bertrand picked the four top winners.?There were so many good entries. It was so hard to choose,” she said.Eighth-grader Edivan Solano thought the trip would be a great opportunity to learn about his native culture.?I want to thank them and give back to them,” Solano said. “They have made me who I am today.”The students will be working with the organization DREAM (Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring Program.) In the Dominican Republic, students only go to school for three hours all year long.The Lynn volunteers will be coming in after those three hours and teaching them classes and taking the students on field trips, says Bertrand.One of the field trips will be to the beach.?Even though many of these kids live 30 minutes from the beach, many of them have never been,” Bertrand said.For the Lynn students, this is an opportunity to explore a foreign country while helping kids their own age.?I?ve never been out of the country before,” eighth-grader Abigail Mariano said. “I?m excited to learn about another culture and help the other kids at the same time.”For eighth-grader Corinne Jean-Gilles, the trip is helping her achieve her career goals.?I want to be a pediatrician,” Gilles said. “If I start working with kids now, it will be easier when I grow up.”Others are excited to work with the students. “I can?t wait to meet them,” eighth-grader Mayreliz Perez said.The group is raising the money for the trip all on their own. They need to raise $6,990 to go on the trip. They have just started the fundraising efforts and have raised $100.They will be sending letters out to the community asking for donations as well as selling snacks at basketball games. They will be going to the Dominican Republic in July.?We are doing this completely on our own,” teacher Gaby Gonzalez Del Real said. “Any little bit helps.”Bertrand believes this experience will be life changing for her students. “There is no better education than to see what other cultures are about especially for the students with Latino ethnicity. This is bringing them back to their roots,” she said. “There are not many opportunities in eighth grade to study abroad. This will be monumental in their academic growth.”KIPP Academy is a public charter school whose mission is to create an environment where students develop the academic skills, intellectual habits and character traits so they achieve their fullest potential in high school and college.If you would like to donate Kadi Bertrand can be reached at 617-240-1456 or [email protected] Brown can be reached at [email protected].