Johnston McQueen is an International Baccalaureate (IB) Authorized Primary Years Programme and a distinguished elementary school. The school is part of East Texas Advanced Academy in Longview Independent School District where students receive an exceptional education enhancing their opportunities for an International Baccalaureate program in middle, high school and beyond.

by Joycelyne Fadojutimi

Furthermore, Johnston McQueen 1^st graders financially assisted Marsha Nsiimye in Uganda, Africa.

Research shows that IB students are encouraged and learn to think critically. They begin to solve complex problems at a young age leading them to develop strong academic, social, and emotional characteristics. IB program is transdisciplinary – that is- it focuses, relates to, and goes across all subjects and to real life. Hence, IB students are better in Math Literacy, Reading, Narrative and Expository Writing when compared to non-IB peers anywhere locally, nationally, or globally.

Johnston McQueen 1st graders paid Marsha’s school expenses, which is the sole reason she was able to attend classes at all. LISD Superintendent Dr. James Wilcox could not be prouder of his young scholar/philanthropists.

“The project they are doing at Johnston McQueen Elementary School is student-initiated,” he said. “Our students came up with this idea, and they wanted to reach out and help this student because they know that education is the way out of poverty.”

Wilcox went further in his description of this wonderful project by children barely old enough to go to school.

“Poverty is so widespread in that country,” he said. “I could not be prouder of our students and the work of the IB instructors who created the environment that led to our children sharpening their minds. It shows the reach of the IB program and its lasting impact.”

Wilcox also explained how this project is precisely what the IB is seeking to achieve–the sharpening of incredibly young minds in pursuit of noble aims. In this respect, IB is unquestionably best.

“This is why we are providing this education for students here in Longview–for them to see and say, ‘I can make a difference. What I say and what I do is important.’ It is important not only in their lives, but it is important in the lives of people around you. What a great lesson to learn from an early age.”

East Texas Advanced Academy’s interim CEO James Brewer could not have agreed more.

“I am excited and very proud of our Johnston McQueen students, teachers and this Ugandan project,” he said. “It is good to reach your community, state and the nation.”

Brewer expounded on the magnitude of how the IB students’ eagerness to help others from outside their own country is something to be treasured.

“When students begin to go beyond their borders, learning takes on a higher dimension. Students in IB learn that they can reach beyond the stars and be ready to lead in the near future,” he said. “These young first graders demonstrated the ability to think independently, start and finish a project that helps a less fortunate person in another part of the world.”

Johnston McQueen Principal Cristi Scott is delighted with the results and impact of the Ugandan project and how it impresses on her students the blessing of how American children attend school free of charge and still get an excellent education.

“When they add their IB program to the equation they get to see and understand how blessed they are,” she said. “They begin to get a global mindset of what is out there where students like Marsha have to pay to attend schools that may not even be as good as theirs.”

Scott describes the work of assisting less-fortunate children obtain an education as “powerful and impacting,” which is the main objective of the IB quest to teach U.S. students to be globally minded and strive to make a positive difference.

“When this project came up in their module, students had a choice of buying a well or sponsoring a child. Our first-grade class made the choice to sponsor a child close to their age,” said Scott. “They worked hard and made it happen.”

Johnston McQueen IB Coordinator and Academic Dean Brandi Patterson is ecstatic over the success of the project and how it features student-teacher interaction in achieving success in a service action.

“This first-grade class had the opportunity to choose a community project or a global project. They chose a global service project,” she said. “They partnered with Trevor Burgmann of We Help Two, a social service non-profit. They reached out to Burgmann and decided to sponsor a student.”

Considering how her students financed the program by selling socks online and convincing families and teachers to buy into the scheme, Patterson left no doubts as to the untouched success of her first graders’ efforts.

“We are grateful that the whole school participated. Families bought socks for stocking stuffers at Christmas, and so on and so forth,” she said. “The first graders were enthused when they read the letter Marsha wrote, thanking them for their sponsorship.”

First-graders Paris Sheffield, McKenzie Bazaar, Amari Lewis, Connor Ford, Malachi Elliot, and Sebastian Bogenschutz used the following words to describe their feelings about sponsoring Marsha: “Happy, excited, spectacular and sweet.”

IB teacher Melanie Villanueva was impressed with the project from the beginning and convinced her team to embrace it. This enthusiasm soon spread to the whole school and beyond as even parents got involved. The entire Johnston McQueen community plunged into the program and worked tirelessly to ensure its success.

Even, left-over socks were put to good use as the children donated them to their school’s Clothes Closet to be used with other essentials to provide all students with such necessities as school uniforms, clothes, and toiletries. Furthermore, Clothes Closet sere the community. For example, a family lost everything in a house fire. The Clothes Closet assisted them with necessities to enable them start life all over again.

Burgmann of We Help Two was elated how Johnston McQueen project was able to assist Marsha. We Help Two is a social nonprofit that has spent the past seven years working with the LISD, concentrating on digging wells and providing amputees with prosthetic limbs. Still, education is the goal, especially in Uganda.

According to We Help Two website, single-teacher classes in Uganda may have as many as 150 students. Moreover, girls are often excluded from going to school. Low and irregular salaries force many teachers to work additional jobs, meaning they are  not always available to their students. We Help Two aims to rectify this situation by collaborating with U.S. schools, organizations, and persons to raise funding to provide adequate schooling, meals, and clothing in Uganda. Those wishing to participate in this operation should visit https://www.wehelptwo.com/.

Sponsors will be able to correspond with their sponsored children.