Helping Kids Across the Country with our Shop Classes?

There are an abundance of shop classes in Thomas Edison High School as students may know including; Medical Assisting, Mech Tech, Automotive, Biotechnology, Computer Repair, CISCO, Electrical Installation, Visual and Graphic Arts and Robotics. Recently, there has been an innovation in our school to spread our ideas of each shop class to help struggling children and families across the world.

This idea is called Shop in a Box which was created to help developing countries around the world. The idea was thought up by the Model UN Class in Thomas Edison High School which is a class designed to help students participate in formal conferences on real issues around the world. All the different shop classes will use their own ideas from what they have learned in their shop classes to teach others. The kids from these countries will learn about how to carry out a task they might have never even heard of or seen. The students will create a box that is kid friendly and easy to understand for families or for young children. The Shop classes will use their ideas and materials to create a box for kids in a different country to carry out a new task.

Annicia Bisnauth, a senior a part of Model UN 4.0 had said, “The idea was first thought of by UNICEF that has been providing education through School in a box for several years now which had been so successful and helped developing and disaster stricken countries. Being a vocational and technical high school we have skills to use in the working world and our advisors came up with the idea of Shop In a Box to send our skills and techniques and to influence the world like UNICEF does!”

Annicia Bisnauth and Reya Bhoodai from Model UN showing us a model of Shop In a Box.

Annicia Bisnauth and Reya Bhoodai from Model UN showing us a model of Shop In a Box.

Shop In a Box will be created by every senior shop in our school. The shop classes will create instructions, podcasts, and materials that they can teach to developing nations without education. For example, a few students in the class will be a part of designing the box and putting the idea of their shop class onto the box. Other students will be a part of creating the protocol for the technique which is essential for the young children to understand how to carry it out which might be unknown to them. Also, some students will be a part of the researching committee which will research different experiments that are safe for young children to try.  A few students who are skilled in Apple technology will be a part of the committee that will video the whole process that will be sent to Apple CO. Finally, a few students from Model UN will be the head leaders of Shop in a Box to check up on all the committee’s work.

Fawzia Rahman, another senior apart of the Model UN 4.0 class indicated that; “The goal Shop in a Box is to create awareness on the lack of materials and education developing nation’s face. Students will understand and realize what a privilege they have to go to school in a daily basis, whereas in many other countries, they are not. This will allow our Model United Nations to establish our goal and help the needs of children and adults in impoverished areas.”

This idea is going on right now with all the senior shop classes aiming to help children and adults around the world. The boxes are planned to be shipped at the beginning of the New Year. Bring all your ideas together to help an impoverished child across the globe!