Hingham Students Help Build Schools In Central America
HINGHAM (CBS) - It's back to school for students but for Hingham High School sophomore Patrick Cronin and senior Ally Kindler the lessons they've learned outside the classroom have taught them to value their education all because of program called "School the World".
"It was a very humbling experience for me," Kindler said.
Kate Curran is the founder and CEO of School the World, an international educational nonprofit that focuses on primary school education in Central America and global citizenship for high school students here in the U.S.
"My vision was to give each child an opportunity to learn read and write and count," Curran said.
School the World builds schools, playgrounds, trains the teachers and puts books in every classroom for extremely impoverished children. "It's very hard to believe what they go through. These families had nothing but a hut," Kindler said.
In just six years since it began School the World has built 38 schools and enrolled 4,000 students. The kids raise part of the funds to help build the schools and playgrounds and then spend their school vacations in Guatemala giving back.
"We want to build a playground because play is such an important part of a child's education," Cronin said.
It's a mission that has deeply impacted the students who are part of the program. "Getting to see the children and how much they enjoyed learning made me really respect my school and not take my education for granted," Kindler said.