Archer students raise money for West African school
What started as a pen pal program between students at Archer Elementary School and students at Ecole Nagueswende in Burkina Faso, Africa, has evolved into a larger community fundraising effort to help the impoverished school and its students. Led by Archer Elementary teacher Laurie Tornese, the Burkina Faso school has received money for new desks, and future plans include funds to help build a new classroom.
For Laurie Tornese and her students, it started out as a pen pal correspondence.
But before they knew it, the small school in West Africa, with its 239 children and four classes, had somehow found a way into their hearts.
Now, over a year later, Tornese and her students at Archer Elementary School have planned a Read-A-Thon to raise $2,122, the amount of money needed for owner and founder Mathias Ouedraogo to build another classroom for his students at Ecole Nagueswende, a school in Burkina Faso, Africa.
The Read-A-Thon will be held on Wednesday, March 23 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will feature local celebrities such as Mike Potter from WCJB TV-20 and Storm Roberts from KTK 985 as well as other professionals in the community, who will read to the students and talk about their careers.
In February 2010, Tornese, who is the current teacher of the year for Archer Elementary, came across a Web site where teachers could request pen pals in other countries. She decided pen pals would be a great experience for the children in her second-grade enrichment writing class.
“Pairing the lives of other students to ours seemed like a fabulous project,” she said. “It would give the students practice in writing letters and also teach them about geography and culture.”
Soon after, she received a response from Ouedraogo, and she and her students began comparing life in Florida to life in Burkina Faso.
Looking at the photos Ouedraogo sent and reading through different statistics about education, literacy and life in Burkina Faso, where there are poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens, Tornese began to realize how much of a privilege it was to receive an education at the school.
With a literacy rate of 21.8 percent and the school life expectancy of about six years in Burkina Faso, Tornese knew she had to help.
“I thought to myself, ‘These people are just trying to survive,’” she said. “So I decided that I wanted to take a small segment and try to make it better.”
A few months later, Tornese and a few of her students held a plant sale for Mother’s Day to raise money for the school to build desks for the children.
“[Quedraogo] said they needed desks, so I spoke to one of my students’ mothers who owned a nursery, and we had the plant sale,” she said.
The group raised $440, the exact amount needed to build nine new desks.
“Before we got the tables, children were sitting four or five to each table and it was hard for them to be at ease because the normal places for each table were three,” Ouedraogo said. “It helped our school so much, and we were very touched by the compassion that Mrs. Tornese and her students expressed towards us. ”
When Tornese and her students received photos of the children sitting on the wooden desks that read, “Donated by Archer Elementary, FL, USA,” they were speechless. “It was such a feeling of awe to know that you helped someone so far away and to know that you gave them a better learning environment,” she said.
This year, she decided to do something different.
After speaking with Principal Kim Neal, they decided to have an event where people could donate as much or as little as they wanted. The Read-A-Thon would inspire students to read and help raise money at the same time, Tornese said.
But it’s not just parents who are donating money. Tornese said her students have been working hard, too.
“I’ve heard some of my students talking about doing more chores so they can donate some money,” she said. “I think it made my students learn a lot about compassion.”
About 14 teachers will be participating in the event. According to Tornese, without the teachers’ help, the event wouldn’t be possible. “It was the combination of a lot of people’s efforts that made this happen,” she said.
Aside from raising money for Ecole Nagueswende, which means Hope in God, and communicating with the students and Ouedraogo through pen pal letters, one of Tornese’s greatest passions is showing the children in Burkina Faso what America is like, she said.
“I have sent them photos of our school, trees and the greenness we have here, and snow—things they don’t have there,” she said. “I try to give them a different outlook on things.”
For Tornese, participating in different service projects has been something she has done her whole life.
For much of her life, Tornese’s mother was the director of United Way in Preble County, Ohio.
“She would wake me up at 6 a.m. and we would help the firemen with whatever they needed, especially during natural disasters, she said. My mother did stuff like that all my life,” Tornese said. “I do service work in honor of her.”
After she married and had children, she served as a Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts leader and worked with other organizations including her church.
But when her son Anthony was diagnosed with Wiskcott-Aldrich Syndrome, a condition resulting in a low platelet count and severe immune deficiency, and later, Lymphoma, things changed. Battling his health became the center of Tornese’s life. Fortunately, Tornese and her family were given a happy ending in 2003 when Anthony received a bone marrow transplant.
For Tornese, her experience with her son has given her a great amount of empathy for others, one of the reasons that motivated her to help the school in Burkina Faso. She hopes that the money raised through the Read-A-Thon will help Ouedraogo to provide the gift of education to more students at Ecole Nagueswende.
“She’s a true philanthropist,” Archer Elementary Principal Kim Neal said of Tornese.
“When I lay on my death bed, I want to be able to look back and say I made a difference,” Tornese said.
For more information, e-mail Laurie Tornese at tornesela@gm.sbac.edu. If you would like to make a donation for the Read-A-Thon, please make checks payable to Archer Elementary.
Archer students raise money for West African school
What started as a pen pal program between students at Archer Elementary School and students at Ecole Nagueswende in Burkina Faso, Africa, has evolved into a larger community fundraising effort to help the impoverished school and its students. Led by Archer Elementary teacher Laurie Tornese, the Burkina Faso school has received money for new desks, and future plans include funds to help build a new classroom.
For Laurie Tornese and her students, it started out as a pen pal correspondence.
But before they knew it, the small school in West Africa, with its 239 children and four classes, had somehow found a way into their hearts.
Now, over a year later, Tornese and her students at Archer Elementary School have planned a Read-A-Thon to raise $2,122, the amount of money needed for owner and founder Mathias Ouedraogo to build another classroom for his students at Ecole Nagueswende, a school in Burkina Faso, Africa.
The Read-A-Thon will be held on Wednesday, March 23 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will feature local celebrities such as Mike Potter from WCJB TV-20 and Storm Roberts from KTK 985 as well as other professionals in the community, who will read to the students and talk about their careers.
In February 2010, Tornese, who is the current teacher of the year for Archer Elementary, came across a Web site where teachers could request pen pals in other countries. She decided pen pals would be a great experience for the children in her second-grade enrichment writing class.
“Pairing the lives of other students to ours seemed like a fabulous project,” she said. “It would give the students practice in writing letters and also teach them about geography and culture.”
Soon after, she received a response from Ouedraogo, and she and her students began comparing life in Florida to life in Burkina Faso.
Looking at the photos Ouedraogo sent and reading through different statistics about education, literacy and life in Burkina Faso, where there are poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens, Tornese began to realize how much of a privilege it was to receive an education at the school.
With a literacy rate of 21.8 percent and the school life expectancy of about six years in Burkina Faso, Tornese knew she had to help.
“I thought to myself, ‘These people are just trying to survive,’” she said. “So I decided that I wanted to take a small segment and try to make it better.”
A few months later, Tornese and a few of her students held a plant sale for Mother’s Day to raise money for the school to build desks for the children.
“[Quedraogo] said they needed desks, so I spoke to one of my students’ mothers who owned a nursery, and we had the plant sale,” she said.
The group raised $440, the exact amount needed to build nine new desks.
“Before we got the tables, children were sitting four or five to each table and it was hard for them to be at ease because the normal places for each table were three,” Ouedraogo said. “It helped our school so much, and we were very touched by the compassion that Mrs. Tornese and her students expressed towards us. ”
When Tornese and her students received photos of the children sitting on the wooden desks that read, “Donated by Archer Elementary, FL, USA,” they were speechless. “It was such a feeling of awe to know that you helped someone so far away and to know that you gave them a better learning environment,” she said.
This year, she decided to do something different.
After speaking with Principal Kim Neal, they decided to have an event where people could donate as much or as little as they wanted. The Read-A-Thon would inspire students to read and help raise money at the same time, Tornese said.
But it’s not just parents who are donating money. Tornese said her students have been working hard, too.
“I’ve heard some of my students talking about doing more chores so they can donate some money,” she said. “I think it made my students learn a lot about compassion.”
About 14 teachers will be participating in the event. According to Tornese, without the teachers’ help, the event wouldn’t be possible. “It was the combination of a lot of people’s efforts that made this happen,” she said.
Aside from raising money for Ecole Nagueswende, which means Hope in God, and communicating with the students and Ouedraogo through pen pal letters, one of Tornese’s greatest passions is showing the children in Burkina Faso what America is like, she said.
“I have sent them photos of our school, trees and the greenness we have here, and snow—things they don’t have there,” she said. “I try to give them a different outlook on things.”
For Tornese, participating in different service projects has been something she has done her whole life.
For much of her life, Tornese’s mother was the director of United Way in Preble County, Ohio.
“She would wake me up at 6 a.m. and we would help the firemen with whatever they needed, especially during natural disasters, she said. My mother did stuff like that all my life,” Tornese said. “I do service work in honor of her.”
After she married and had children, she served as a Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts leader and worked with other organizations including her church.
But when her son Anthony was diagnosed with Wiskcott-Aldrich Syndrome, a condition resulting in a low platelet count and severe immune deficiency, and later, Lymphoma, things changed. Battling his health became the center of Tornese’s life. Fortunately, Tornese and her family were given a happy ending in 2003 when Anthony received a bone marrow transplant.
For Tornese, her experience with her son has given her a great amount of empathy for others, one of the reasons that motivated her to help the school in Burkina Faso. She hopes that the money raised through the Read-A-Thon will help Ouedraogo to provide the gift of education to more students at Ecole Nagueswende.
“She’s a true philanthropist,” Archer Elementary Principal Kim Neal said of Tornese.
“When I lay on my death bed, I want to be able to look back and say I made a difference,” Tornese said.
For more information, e-mail Laurie Tornese at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you would like to make a donation for the Read-A-Thon, please make checks payable to Archer Elementary.