From April 28th to May 1st, five members of the LFNY staff traveled to Haiti to continue the school’s pedagogical exchange program with the Lycee Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable (LJBPS) located in Saint Marc. Included on the trip were: Aurore Papazian and Alexandre Sivera, both Kindergarten teachers; Marie-Odile Couture, Biology teacher and Secondary International Service Learning Integrator, Florence Germain, Cycle 1 Head and Primary International Service Learning Integrator and Vivianne Kurzweil, Dean of Student Programs.
The Hands on Science Projects.
Our trip had several goals. First, we wanted to visit the school when a group of nine French dentists from Aide Dentaire Vietnam was also visiting LJBPS. They set up shop in the school’s infirmary and for one week, offered free dental services to families in the surrounding towns, treating 100 people per day. In parallel with the dentists’ work, we reviewed proper dental care with the LJBPS first graders, then had them design posters describing what they learned. All the posters are bilingual: French/English, Creole/English or Creole/French. Some of these posters are currently displayed in the lobby of the Lycée.
The students created their colorful tops to spin.
Second, with the help of LJBPS assistants, we conducted three Hands on Science projects with the kindergarten and first grade students about colors. The first part of the project asked the children what colors they thought they would get by combining red and green, then red and yellow. The second part of the project reversed the process and asked the children to guess if they thought blue, yellow and green were actually combinations of two other colors. Finally, the students created their own colorful tops to spin – and, of course, observe what colors they saw appear as the tops spun round and round.
The final goal of our trip was to deliver the school & dental supplies we collected during our February School Kit drive to the Ecole Etzer Vilaire, located across the road from LJBPS. The supplies were painstakingly sorted at the Lycee and packed into 270 canvas school totes by the students of Seconde 3.
The canvas totes.
The totes were then packed into 8 duffle bags weighing in total 400 lbs! Each tote contained a notebook, pencils, pens, crayons, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, a toothbrush and toothpaste. All totes arrived in perfect condition.
Together with the dentists and Mr. Pierre-Marie Guinet, Head of LJBPS, we went classroom by classroom, distributing totes to each student from Kindergarten to tenth grade. We also gave to each of the teachers a package of notebooks and pens. The smiles we received in return were priceless. Thank you, everyone, for your generosity!
Please take a few moments when you are in the lobby to see the photo display from our Haiti trip.
About the Author :
A Lycée alumna, Vivianne Kurzweil has a bachelor’s in applied sciences from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in education from Bank Street College. Following 9/11, she created a program for community service at the Lycée. She is now director of Service Learning, and works with colleagues to promoste community service. Thanks to various volunteering projects, Lycée students have learned to make themselves useful in New York and around the world.