Facing the - Culver Academies

Relay For Life
support. As it caught on, the “pay-it-forward” impact helped turn
the city into one of the friendliest in china, McKinnis said.
Andrea canacci ’11 used her entrepreneurship grant to finance
a major renovation campaign in culver during the summer of
2010. Academies and culver community high School students
repainted and did minor repair work on several senior citizens’
homes in the area. That was followed by a picnic and a time to
reflect on what they had accomplished.
While spending a year at St. Peter’s School in York, England, during
her English Speaking Union post-graduate program, canacci
tweaked the BiRd (Building, inspiring, Recreating & discovering)
concept to fit the circumstances, and St. Peter’s students spent
a day renovating assisted living group homes and two elementary
schools in York. St. Peter’s students are now planning to make it
an annual event to give back to the community.
McKinnis adds that community service programs that have become
staples on campus actually evolved out of Senior Leadership
Projects. The local Relay for Life, which has netted more than
$500,000 in its brief history, was rooted in a senior service project.
The Marshall-Starke Special Olympics, held on campus for years,
has benefited greatly from the student leadership program assistance,
McKinnis said, as has the growth of the Leadership committee
for Africa. The LcA – and senior leadership projects benefiting
it through the years – has donated over $30,000 to the Amani
children’s foundation and christel house in South Africa.
Some senior leadership projects continue to help students years
after the creator has graduated. Jason Torf ’09, who is now at
the Air force Academy, created a program and notebook to
assist students with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Torf’s project proved so successful that some faculty
members asked that it be brought back to help some of today’s
students.
donnelly’s ride generated a lot of publicity for Pencils of Promise.
She was highlighted in Teen Vogue and Seventeen magazines and
several teen-focused websites. PoP named her as one of the organi-
8 The Culver Educational Foundation
zation’s “impossible Ones,” which spotlights teens going beyond
the normal fund-raising activities. That resulted in a video
being produced that is now on YouTube.
But as glamorous as donnelly’s ride may sound on one
side, it was just as grinding on the other. Even though she
had been working on the project and ride for several
months, donnelly had to pack a lot of learning into the
two short weeks she had between the end of her junior
year and taking off on the trip.
Like all the bikers on the Teen Trek program, donnelly was
responsible for carrying her own cooking and eating utensils,
sleeping bag, a small tent, extra clothes, and bike repair equipment.
They purchased food along the way, stopping at grocery or
convenience stores for lunch, then eating in the parking lot or
on the sidewalk, she said. And, with only room for bike shorts, Tshirts,
and socks, the group stopped at a laundry every weekend or
washed clothes needed sooner in restroom sinks.
describing the journey to curious people along the way, donnelly
and her fellow riders were often met with a “You’re crazy.”
And, with the heat and a major drought across the Great Plains
and Midwest, donnelly had to agree. After the bikers crossed the
Rockies near Bozeman, Montana, she described the landscape as
“flat and hot.” The heat didn’t let up for the month of July, but the
group still managed to ride 70 to 80 miles per day.
By the time she reached coney island, New York, donnelly
had raised over $6,000. But she hasn’t stopped yet. Now close to
$7,600, donnelly is looking at other ways to raise money.
She recently met with sixth-graders at the culver Elementary
School, who are more than willing to help her stage a five-kilometer
race in the community. She is also consulting and collaborating with
the students as they work on their own community service projects.
Not a bad return on a $500 investment.
Andrea Canacci ’11