By Mckenna Beery
Staff Writer
On top of going to school, Costa seniors Matt Stern and Emily Everhard traveled to Kenya over the summer to build schools for those in need.
The two went for the independent, non-profit, Costa-affiliated organization called The Building Class to build a school in Kenya.
The Building Class is an organization whose goal is to bring together high school graduating classes to raise money that goes toward the building of a school in Massai Mara, Kenya. Stern and Everhard’s goal is to spread education worldwide and increase opportunities for learning for those less fortunate.
“I set out on the journey for my organization, The Building Class, to interact with a community that will receive a school house built with the funds from the Mira Costa Building Class of 2014,” Stern said.
For three weeks during the summer, Everhard and Stern lived in a small tent in a rural area called Massai Mara, Kenya. While traveling they spent their time with the Kishon Community Center to help educate students withing the Oloirien Primary School.
“The organization is a great cause; the concept of pairing a first-world school with one [in a third-world country] is a great idea and proved to be very effective last [summer] for our fundraising efforts,” ambassador of The Building Class senior Jackson O’Connell said.
Everhard and Stern traveled to Kenya to begin building the first school funded by The Building Class. According to Stern, they set up education-based relationships within the community that will be advantageous to The Building Class of 2014 and the building classes of the future.
“[While] I was living in the community, I was physically constructing a school for Oloirien,” Stern said. “I was able to form incredible bonds with many of the children at the school.”
The seniors traveled with The Building Class’ partner organizations, Free the Children and Me to We, two Canadian-based, non-governmental organizations that have agreed to help construct local schools. Both organizations focus on aiding developing nations.
“Free the Children and Me to We are both amazing organizations,” Everhard said. “It was incredible to see communities that they had been working with in Kenya with clean water, organic sustainable farming and all-new school rooms.”
This trip to Kenya was made possible because of funds raised by Costa students through private donations and fundraisers from the 2012-13 year. Each ambassador of the program pledged to raise $500 dollars. As a result, The Building Class exceeded its goal of $8,500, and raised a total of $10,000.
“It was a huge accomplishment to raise as much money as we did,” chief ambassador senior Michaela Loudermilk said. “[The club] was so ecstatic when we found out we exceeded our goal in such a short amount of time.”
In the future, Everhard and Stern plan to return to Kenya to visit the school that they raised money to build. They hope to pass down their campaign to the current Mira Costa High School juniors, as well as to expand their fundraising vehicle to other schools in California. Eventually, they would like to spread the mission of The Building Class throughout the country.
“My partner, Emily, and I hope to have funds raised for between five and eight schools by the end of this school year,” Stern said.
In order to spread the word about their organization and to get more people involved, Stern and Everhard created the website, thebuildingclass.com, where more information can be found.
“Matt and I wanted to show that even though we are teenagers, we can still touch the world in various ways,” Everhard said. “The power of resources is especially strong through the education system, so building the class for these students made putting in the effort worthwhile.”
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