Kids helping Kids from Westminster to Romania

Jenni Clay, Literacy Coach at Westminster Elementary School, will not be sitting on the beach over spring break. Instead, she is traveling to Romania. She will make the trip with a group of five other educators, three current and two retired School District of Oconee County (SDOC) employees, on a trip sponsored by Trinity Baptist Church. While there, they will work with the Ruth School in Romania, along with schools in two nearby villages, to lead professional development for their teaching staffs. In preparing for this international trip, Clay decided to involve students at Westminster Elementary. She met with the school’s student council and they decided to call the project “Kids Helping Kids: From Westminster to Romania”. Part of the professional development the group will present focuses on various ways to engage students, including strategies using markers and whiteboard. However, those materials are not currently available so Westminster Elementary decided to collect markers to donate to the school. Clay mounted a display of South Carolina and Romania and gave students a clothespin to hang on it each time a marker was donated. The goal was to reach from South Carolina to Romania with the clothespins. In the end, students brought in over 300 markers which made the path between the places two clothespins deep. Along with the markers, the educators will also take dry erase boards, post it notes, and index cards as the educators share new ways to engage students in learning. “We are excited to take the tools and knowledge that we use every day in our classrooms to groups of educators in Romania. These educators are eager to learn new ways to reach and engage their students,” said Clay. Pictured are members of the Westminster Elementary School Student Council. Front row (L to R): Cameron Torres, Drake Smith, Madison Ivester, Anna Carver, Ayden Hicks, Patrick Rholetter, Connor Watson, Trent Freeman, and Reagan Mobley. Back row (L to R): Jayce Ogg, Drew Crompton, Lane Allen, Leland Youngblood, Mattie Williams, Jacie Brucke, Addy Donald, Lucas Towe, Charleigh Carter, Nicole Baxter, and Riley Hale. Not pictured was Naomi Ryan. The SDOC serves 10,500 students with 943 certified staff in 19 schools. The mission of SDOC is to develop productive citizens who are life-long learners by providing exemplary educational experiences for all students. The SDOC is accredited by AdvancED.