Project Aquarelle

Last week, we completed a donation at the Instituto Reação, a nonprofit dedicated to the development of values and socioeconomic integration of children through sports. Flávio Canto, Olympic Gold Medalist in judo, founded and runs the organization with a mission to “promote human development through sport and education to transform the concept of social responsibility to action in the largest number of people possible, integrating different classes through sport.”

Their eight locations throughout Rio de Janeiro provide programming to 1,600 youth. Students are given an hour of supplementary education and one of judo training every day. Over time, they reach milestones in the form of value badges learned in the classroom and on the mat where judo is practiced.

Project Aquarelle had the privilege of attending a values graduation ceremony on the day of our donation at Instituto Reação Rocinha.
Now, the Rocinha location of Instituto Reação significant because it sits next to the largest favela in Brazil. It is also one of the largest in Latin America. While these neighborhoods often make headlines for drug trafficking and other crimes, they are filled with hardworking people who cannot afford housing in Rio de Janeiro’s expensive city center. Like any other neighborhood in Rio, there are botecos that serve warm cheese bread and the iconic Guaraná soda made from the Amazonian fruit of its name. The same joyful cheers can be heard when a seleção brasileira scores a goal and tears when we are eliminated from a tournament. Notwithstanding the immense gaps between the rich and poor, the people who inhabit the Rocinha have the same desire for a good time that is characteristic of Cariocas and Brazilians alike.

On the day of the donation, the students were ecstatic to have classes suspended for a greater cause: The ceremony of the courage badge. After six months of working to understand the meaning of courage, both academically and physically, the students were ready for their challenge to earn the badge. This involved completing an obstacle course in teams paired off by age (where a team of three involved a student from the four to eight year old group, a student between nine and 12 and a student above 12) and were required to accomplish the task together. Watching as the older warriors helped the youngest over the mats, through tires and up the rope was not only admirable, but a courageous display of their abilities to parents and community members.

At Instituto Reação, students are taught their own self worth, something seldom found elsewhere. They are reminded to be kind to one another as engaged citizens. From them, we can all learn something about courage.

A big thank you to everyone who donated to our 2019 Collection and helped make it a success! A thank you also goes out to the coordinators at the participating WS pyramid schools for helping organize the collection. The donated supplies will make their way to students in need to help them take advantage of their education.

There is just over one week left of our 2019 Collection! Donations of your new and lightly used school supplies will make their way to students in need after collection is over.

School supply collection for 2019 has begun! Be sure to look out for our collection boxes in the following West Springfield - pyramid schools and help us out by donating your extra supplies. Boxes are out in: Washington Irving MS, Rolling Valley ES, West Springfield ES, and Keene Mill ES.

Our collection boxes for school supplies go out in less than one week! Look out for the boxes in the front of most West Springfield - pyramid schools. You can donate your new and lightly used supplies until the end of the school year, and doing so will help give a student in need the necessary tools to succeed in their education.

As we’re nearing the end of the school year, be sure to save your unused school supplies to donate to our 2019 collection! Look out for our collection boxes going up in West Springfield - pyramid schools within the next few weeks

Yesterday would have been the 203rd birthday of Charlotte Bronte, a prominent female writer who was forced to publish under a mans name due to stigmas against women’s literature. Her most famous work, Jane Eyre is a classic even today and has inspired the works of countless other female writers.

Our workshop with Generation Hope on Saturday was a success! We loved talking to the children about mental health and making “happy boxes” with them to remind them of what brings them joy.

We’ve given our website a little makeover! Go check out what’s new at www.projectaquarelle.org and find out how to get involved.

www.projectaquarelle.com

Today is the 140th birthday of Albert Einstein, one of the world’s greatest minds. Einstein contributed greatly in the fields of mathematics and theoretical physics, but he was also influential through his ideas on education and learning. According to Einstein, “education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think”.

March is National Women’s History Month, a time to honor all of the influential women who have come before us and who have fought for equality among all. To name just a few of these outstanding ladies: Susan B. Anthony, a key leader in the US Women’s rights movement, Rosa Parks, the “mother of the freedom movement” and a proclaimed black rights activist, and Marie Curie, the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. In the words of former US First Lady, Michelle Obama, “There is no limit to what we, as women, can achieve”.

Today we celebrate the lasting legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both being important Founding Fathers of the US and having influential ideas regarding education.