While most students are taking a break to eat and catch up with their friends, members of the Ed Rocks club have spent their lunches approaching tables of peers, asking them to donate money in exchange for pins to support the education of two students who live across the globe.

Ed Rocks is a global initiative that works to improve education for students in developing countries. The Ed Rocks Club at Hagerty works with the wider programs to raise money for and write letters to these students. This year, students are fundraising for a 16-year-old boy named Wayan Wahyu Pratam from Indonesia and a 17-year-old girl named Sonia Yohana from Guatemala. 

“I can’t picture not having a stable education, which is actually what many of these students’ situations are,”  fundraising leader Eleanor Etz said. “It’s really important that at least our two kids can have a stable year with good resources.”

The student-made pins are given to donors for every $3 given. Donations can be made directly with cash to Ed Rocks members during both lunches and online through the links to Pratam and Yohana up to May 1.

“[We] pick students in the club to go out around the campus during each lunch and try to help fund these kids by using pins, which a lot of people like,” senior Luciano Burd said. “There’s a lot of [people] around the campus who have pins on their backpacks, so I think it’s a good idea to incentivise them to help these kids.”

Each year, new children are chosen, and the club must raise $500 by the end of the year per child. Schools can choose to support more or fewer children depending on the size of their program.  

“I’m extremely proud because every year they have to come up with new ways to interact with the kids,” club sponsor Erin Foley said. “So it’s kind of like starting the process all over again… And they never fall behind.”

Working in the club can help members sharpen other life skills. Etz has been in the club for two years, and has noticed participating in activities such as selling the pins to peers has helped her get used to approaching others. A large part of the program is communication with the students being sponsored. Throughout the year, club members have been writing letters back and forth to Pratam and Yohana.

“I was kind of nervous last year going into it, but once you’re actually selling and just asking people, it’s really not that nerve wracking for me,” Etz said. “It’s definitely helped my confidence because [going up to people] just became normal.” 

“[It surprised me] how they view their circumstances, because they don’t view it with negativity,” Burd said. “They embrace it and are able to have a positive view on what they have while still looking for ways to improve their circumstances.” 

Education quality is one of the largest factors in limiting poverty, with the United Nations making it fourth on their Sustainable Development Goals list. In low to middle income countries seven out of 10 students cannot comprehend a single paragraph by age 10 in their native language, according to the World Bank Group.

“It feels good to do faceless work,” Foley said. “I’m never going to meet these kids, but for the rest of their life, they can see that someone [who] doesn’t know them [helped them]. There’s no reward, there’s no pride at the end—it’s just truly altruistic.”