At the end of the spring semester, 13 picture books written by Oglethorpe students were delivered to children in , a French-speaking West African nation, in which approximately one-third of the population lives below the international poverty line.
“Books for Benin,” a听global effort to supply books to that nation, was a project of the spring semester’s French 201 service learning class, taught by Professor听Iona Wynter Parks.听Service learning is a type of experiential learning that integrates academic learning with community involvement.
Books for Benin was 鈥渁 perfect project for students in this class,” according to Prof. Wynter Parks, “because it allowed each student to work at his or her level of French and it eliminated the worry of class content being too advanced for some students and not advanced enough for others.鈥�
As part of the planning and writing process, the students attended a series of workshops led by award-winning author听and Oglethorpe professor Jessica Handler. 鈥淭he workshops were key to getting us through the process,” said Lujan Rodriguez ’16. “Professor Handler helped us find where to begin, and how to find the inspiration that we needed to write our books.鈥�
Lujan听adapted the story of her niece, who had a very rare type of eye cancer, for her inspirational book,听“”听(“Nourbese and her animal friends”).听“(My)听story includes talking animals and a little girl who is like my niece,鈥� said Lujan, who hopes that children who read her book will be encouraged to never lose hope and to believe in something bigger than themselves.
When Victoria Lindbergh ’18 began writing 鈥�鈥�, she knew that she wanted to write something that would allow the children of Benin to understand the importance of reading and independence. 鈥淚f you want to go places, you have to trust yourself,” said Victoria, “and while it may be important to work with other people, you can鈥檛 rely on them to get you where you want to go.”
Kayla Stone ’18 was overflowing with ideas when she began the writing process—so much so that she didn鈥檛 know where to begin, even though she says 鈥渕y dream was to write a book.” Now, she’s looking forward to writing another. To ensure her book听鈥溾�� would actively engage children, Kayla inserted several upside down pages and has her readers follow a ball as it 鈥渂ounces鈥� across multiple pages.
Other听students who participated in the project were:听Carina Barreto, Nancy Dau,听Wesley Johnson, Lindsay Ramirez, Anna Rash, Fanny Rivera, Emily Taylor, MarNique Turner, Rebecca听White, and Aliyah听Zeigler. 听
In addition, Aliyah Ziegler, Kayla Stone and Rebecca White presented the service learning project at Oglethorpe鈥檚 annual on April 28. Watch their presentation here:
