100 School Benches 4 Nigeria



My name is Charity Ikpe and I am the founder and president of Engineers In Heels, a Chicago area based STEM organization. Our mission is to provide authentic, and effective Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) education to underrepresented students and educators in the United States and on the African continent that will support their continuous academic achievement and prepare them for life and career in our global market...through camps, seminars, workshops, actual and virtual classrooms.

I am also the technology teacher at Korea’s Elementary School, in Palos Hills, IL. I instruct students from Pre-school to 8th grade. In my spare time I bake and sale cupcakes to help support our organization.

This past summer, we raised money mainly from bake sales and took a trip to Nigeria with my two children (ages 7 & 5) to teach computer coding in the schools there. Engineers In Heels last school tour broke my heart. My children were able to see what other kids their age do not have due to poverty. We visited Ikot Iko Government Primary School. This is the school my oldest sister went to and 34 years ago I would have started here too. It was sad to see our once high standing beloved school ruin to this point. What I would have condemned & demolished years ago, is what the students are still using as a school. No desk or chairs, no windows, the ceiling have fallen apart, the concrete floor cracked and broken and molds growing everywhere. There’s no text books so the teachers just lectures while the students copy from the board.

The best part of it all is that these students are happy and love to come to school. I had the opportunity to “drop a seed” or introduce computer science to the student in grades 3rd-5th. We truly believe that “Exposure Builds interest.” I met with the the principal and some of the teachers and I told them that I’ll do my best to provide school benches for them along with doors and windows.

We were able to put in an order for our first set of benches on Nov 12th, but we still have a long way to go. I know that it will take a miracle to restore this school, please join us in this quest.

To read more about our organization please visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/engineersinheels

Thank you and God bless you!!!