Tech to Teach

Hello! My name is Mari Young, and I am a Freshman at Miami University in Ohio. Last year, I was lucky enough to be a part of the WE Illinois Youth Council among 20 of the most inspirational youth I have ever met! In being a part of the WE Youth Council, I was given the opportunity to create a personal passion project in which I work towards helping a cause I am passionate about. For me, that cause is educational equality. In so many places not only around the world, but in my community, kids don't have access to a quality education. I want to change that, and so came the idea of donating tablets to schools in need. I have always been fortunate enough to live in an area where I had access to technology at my fingertips, and I could use this technology to learn. Some people may ask, "technology is so expensive, why not just donate books or school supplies?" Well, while books and school supplies are great, they have a much shorter lifespan. A book sits on a shelf collecting dust once read, whereas technology can hold endless amounts of books. Paper and pencils get used up, a computer can hold 1000s of pieces of paper, which can be virtually written on. A computer can be used for anything from science projects, to art projects, books to math problems, and everything in between. I recently decided to contact my one of my favorite teachers ever, who I was lucky enough to have in both 1st and 6th grade, Ms. Scofield, who now works in a low income school district that is in need of new technology. Last summer, I won the DHL Youth Volunteer Fellowship Award due to my work on this project as well as others. I am so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to travel on a Me to WE trip to Ecuador in August of 2019, where I connected with employees at DHL. Since then, DHL has kindly offered to help with my project, and together, we will be donating desktop and laptop computers. I am looking to fund the enough money to buy two laptop carts so that the school can easily use and transport the laptops. Thank you all so much for your help!