WMS students raise money for school in Malawi

The village of Mchenga, Malawi gets a new school building thanks to money raised by Wissahickon Middle School. Nathan Hurdle helps with the construction of the new classroom block.

The eighth-graders who recently finished their time at Wissahickon Middle School left behind a unique legacy: a three-year effort to fund a school in Africa that is currently under construction.

When the group entered the middle school as sixth-graders three years ago, the idea for funding a school quickly became the student council's main focus.

According to student council faculty sponsor Jen Smith, parent Jon Hurdle first approached the school administration with the idea, and the student council then made it its primary philanthropic cause. Working with Save the Children, the school set the goal of raising $30,000, which would cover the costs of expanding and renovating an existing school building in Zomba, Malawi.

Smith said the school quickly embraced the fundraiser.

"The school community was very supportive in raising these funds," she said. "We've had a big push here at our school for diversity and to have students realize they're global students. Most of the students in our district do know how fortunate they are, and the chance to do something for others really called to them."

Over the next two and a half years, a portion of nearly all fundraisers at the school benefited the project, including annual events such as the student-teacher basketball game. Smith said some students donated their own money.

With the whole school supporting the effort, it reached the goal of $30,000 at the end of 2008, and Save the Children soon began construction.

"There's a new classroom block being built, which basically doubles the size of the school," Hurdle said.

The school previously had around 550 students, but the building was unable to facilitate all the students, with many having class outside. When construction is complete, it will be able to accommodate all the students. Additionally, news of the improvements at the building has attracted nearly 200 more students to the area.

At the beginning of May, Hurdle visited the site along with his sons, Jeremy, a freshman at McGill University, and Nathan, an eighth-grader and Student Council President at Wissahickon Middle School.

"Our money has made a very significant improvement to the quality of that school," Hurdle said. He said the first classroom block was about one-third complete, and they estimate about two more months until construction finishes.

While the fundraiser was a huge undertaking, it is not the first time the Hurdle family has been involved with such a project.

Five years ago when Nathan attended Shady Grove Elementary School, Hurdle first came up with the idea of fundraising after reading about overcrowding in African schools. He approached the Home and School Association, which liked the idea and encouraged him to find a nongovernmental organization to work with. Hurdle got in contact with Save the Children, which told him an entire school in rural Ethiopia could be built for $25,000.

Over the next two years, the Shady Grove community raised those funds, and Hurdle and his sons also visited that completed school during their recent trip.

Hurdle said he hopes the success won't end with this most recent project. While the idea is still in the proposal stage, Hurdle said he would like to start another fundraising effort with Wissahickon High School, now that Nathan will be a student there in the fall.

Hurdle said while the projects have a clear benefit for the children in Africa, they also have a great impact on the students in the Wissahickon School District.

"My vision has always been that it's a two-way street," he said. "It nurtures their charitable instincts. It shows them that they can actually make a difference."