Centaurus High School Students Form Ties with Darfuri Refugees
By Arianna Pattek
Students at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colorado have joined the Darfur Dream Team’s Sister Schools Program to connect with their peers in refugee camps in Chad. After teaching a lesson on genocide, language arts teacher Terry Fostvedt noticed her students were especially interested in the crisis in Darfur. “They were understandably overwhelmed and shocked by the information about what’s going on,” said Fostvedt.
Students at Centaurus are partnering with Obama School in southeastern Chad and raising funds to provide refugee students with school supplies and sports equipment. Elaine Proulx, a junior at Centaurus, believes the program is mutually beneficial to both groups of students. “I want to find out more about what kids from Africa … like to do and learn more about them,” Proulx said. She is particularly excited about communicating with the Darfuri students through the program’s videoblogging feature.
Fostvedt is looking forward to empowering her students and the Darfuri refugee children to work toward peace in the region. “The idea is that guns don’t change anything – education is what really brings change into the world,” she said.
