Rising senior Alexa L. distributes the school supplies she raised in her drive last year. Thank you to all the families who participated.

On June 20^th, I went to the Haduan Negrito Integrated School located in Sito Haduan, Mabalacat City in Pampanga to distribute school supplies from a drive I conducted at our school earlier this year. I initially had the idea to start an outreach project because my mom had a cousin who was a previous president of the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat. I was interested in the projects they organize and wanted to be of service to their organization, particularly since I was planning a trip to the Philippines this summer.

In partnership with the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat, I began collecting school supplies at BASIS Independent Brooklyn in January 2023, and, after about a month, I packaged the donations in Balikbayan boxes to ship to the Philippines. With the help of my family, in the form of donations and their time, I was able to get the project ready for when I would arrive in the Philippines a couple of months later.

I arrived in the Philippines on June 18^th where my mom and her cousin helped me finish packing the donated school supplies into the backpacks we would distribute to the students. The following day, we drove from Taguig to Angeles City, and on June 20^th, we woke up early to meet with the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat and walk to the school together. After arriving at our designated meeting spot, we drove with the president, Ms. Cherry, and parked in a very rural section of the countryside. Then we had to hike 20 minutes and we had assistance from some of the students who were sent to carry the supplies for us. When we got to the school, we organized the supplies on a table and sat in a room with some of the older students,  and the principal and Ms. Cherry each gave short speeches. Then we handed out the supplies to the students by grade level. In total, there were grades kindergarten to 9^th grade and less than 200 students total. After we handed out the supplies, I talked with the teachers and walked around the school. Then we said our goodbyes and walked back down the mountain.

Overall my experience at the Haduan Negrito Integrated School was even better than I could have imagined. The students and faculty were so nice and welcoming. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with both the Rotary Club of Angeles and the Haduan School and to have met so many amazing people during this project. This was most definitely a group effort and I would’ve never been able to do this without the help of so many others.

I would like to thank The Rotary Club and Ms. Cherry for working with me for many months to make this a reality, the Haduan Negrito Integrated School for being so welcoming and giving me a wonderfully memorable experience for my first time in the Philippines, BASIS Independent Brooklyn faculty and families for supporting the drive in New York. I would like to thank my family who did not hesitate to help me throughout this process, specifically, my Lola Zel and Ate Sharon – Lola and Ate are Tagalog terms of endearment – who organized the materials once they got to the Philippines and helped me brainstorm ideas for the outreach, my mom who accompanied me to the school and supported me throughout the entire process, and my Lola Lily and Lolo Rolly who drove me and the materials from Taguig to Angeles. After so much preparation for the outreach, it was so nice to finally put faces to both the members of the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat as well as the Haduan Negrito Integrated School.