“Over the past years I have developed a sense of responsibility to help others and make students aware of the realities of the world in which they live. Hopefully this will inspire them to be selfless citizens of the global community.

This past fall, I gave a presentation on world hunger on the first day of our World History unit on ancient Greece. As part of the unit, I divided the class into city-states or teams.

During the course of the four-week unit, these student teams competed in various activities from quizzes to athletic contests. The group that placed first in a contest received ten points, second place eight points, third place six and so on The ultimate team goal was to have the most points at the end of the unit.

One of the competitions was to see which team could collect the most money over the course of one week to help fight world hunger. I had this competition with all three of my ninth grade World History classes and we raised over $500 for the NetAid World Schoolhouse program. 

I also encouraged fellow teachers to donate and posted reminders in the school’s daily announcements.

I hope to do the same activity next year, raise even more money and awareness and inspire other educators to get involved.”

Joe C., Teacher, La Crosse, WI

Here are other ways to motivate your students

Here are ways students passionate about fighting global poverty can get involved