By Theodore Opderbeck
It’s 6:55 a.m. on a cold, dark winter morning, yet much to my delight, I have 12 high school students sitting in my classroom waiting eagerly for our weekly virtual tutoring session with students halfway around the world in Kisii, Kenya! Every Thursday morning, a different crew of my students participates in these special times of English reading, Swahili lessons, singing, dancing and cultural fun with our new friends in Kenya.
In a world often characterized by disillusionment, division and disinterest, it is truly heartwarming to watch my students enhance their empathy and cultural awareness while simultaneously developing social entrepreneurial skills to improve the lives of other people.
Six years ago, I had the good fortune of learning about an inspirational global nonprofit organization located right in the heart of New Jersey with a mission to connect students to communities in need around the world, including the school with which we work in rural Kenya. TEEEM (The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission) is now a rapidly growing organization that collaborates with over 65 high schools, middle schools and elementary schools across the state and nation.
Founded by a former photojournalist and New Jersey native, Jarret Schecter, TEEEM provides a host of free, innovative and dynamic educational resources that teach students here in the U.S. how to develop empathy and understanding for people living in difficult situations while fostering their own social entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
Among the many global nonprofit organizations sponsored by TEEEM, my students chose to work with The GRACE Project in Kenya, which offers high-quality STEM-based schooling, sustainable agricultural training and medical care to Kisii, an underserved community in Kenya. GRACE stands for Greater Response to African Children’s Education.
Since this initial connection, we have created powerful fundraisers, organized sports equipment and shoe drives, hosted virtual exchanges and tutoring sessions, interacted with students in Kenya for joint holiday and cultural celebrations and created awareness in our school and local community in Waldwick.
Last year, we even collaborated with the teaching staff in Kenya and designed a “Shark Tank” style event, where GRACE Academic Center students identified critical needs in their community and devised market-based solutions, which led to actual functioning entrepreneurial business ventures. My students offered technical support, presentation skill development and budgeting tips, while TEEEM provided over $5,000 of prize money to help seed the students’ businesses in Kenya. The winning group is currently sewing reusable sanitary pads for girls who face missed school days due to period poverty.
There is no greater joy as a teacher than watching students apply their learning to address real-world problems and make life better for others. Through TEEEM’s guidance and our partnership with The GRACE Project, I have witnessed countless students combine their burgeoning empathy with newly developed social entrepreneurship skills as they passionately and enthusiastically see their ideas come to fruition.
In today’s educational landscape, many students feel disconnected from their learning. This can lead to a perceived lack of relevance and significance. Indeed, a poll conducted by the National Center on Education and the Economy found that only 34% of high school students report feeling engaged in their learning. According to this research, the three most important factors for student engagement are real-life connectivity, hands-on problem-solving opportunities and independent student decision-making.
Because of our involvement with TEEEM and GRACE, my students constantly apply what they are learning in the classroom to work collaboratively with students facing poverty on another continent. All our lives are transformed and changed for the better. We continue to work together as active changemakers, thriving as we deepen our partnership and build a better future.
Social entrepreneurship and empathy
Imagine your elementary school students raising money to build clean water wells in Burkina Faso while reading children’s books about real-world heroes who are helping their communities overcome water scarcity.
Envision your middle school students creating pop-up shops selling handmade bracelets, earrings and keychains created by Ogala Lakota artists from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, who are working tirelessly to improve their community.
Dream of your high school students hosting formal galas, movie nights, talent shows, clothing and sports equipment drives, pickleball/ping pong tournaments, baking competitions and color runs.
Each of these initiatives was organized and managed by New Jersey students within their classrooms and clubs. With dollar-for-dollar fund-matching from TEEEM, this school year alone, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been channeled to important humanitarian projects conducted by global nonprofits serving at-risk communities. With our students’ help, medical clinics are saving lives, classrooms are full of enthusiastic learners, women are empowered, clean water wells are providing health and nourishment, infrastructure projects and microenterprises are funded and the hungry are being fed.
TEEEM students at Waldwick High School helped Kenyan middle schoolers launch businesses to tackle local issues, such as making reusable sanitary pads to combat period poverty.
Social entrepreneurship is at the heart of TEEEM’s mission. In our world, social entrepreneurial skill development among students is desperately needed as business leaders are looking for innovative ways to apply private market-based models to address social needs. Social entrepreneurs use both profit-motivated ventures and charitable programs to raise funds and find pathways to address critical global issues.
My students have used the social entrepreneurship model to take bigger risks and increase their impact while continuously reflecting on their efforts and revising their ideas and dreams. Indeed, many of the schools associated with TEEEM have done the same.
Recently, my students partnered with a local eating establishment in Waldwick. The resulting “Dine and Donate” event raised $1,800, which was matched by TEEEM for a total donation of $3,600 to our partner school in Kenya. This funding will help cover the tuition for over 100 students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to go to school and build important skills and human capital.
When a school is matched with one of TEEEM’s global partners, close personal connections are established. Students are able to learn about the people and communities who are served by the nonprofits they choose. This greatly increases cross-cultural awareness and understanding. In many cases, students in the U.S. can communicate directly with others in their chosen sites through virtual programs, letter writing and visits to their schools by site leaders.
Our students gain new empathetic perspectives as they consider the challenges and obstacles that others face when living in difficult circumstances. My students in Waldwick have cherished our unique opportunities to build relationships with elementary and middle school students in Kenya.
Other schools around New Jersey who work with TEEEM are also forging connections with people from communities in Ecuador, Peru, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Cambodia and domestically on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Student- and educator-centered programs
As TEEEM grows, so does its dedication to offering quality student- and teacher-centered programs designed to foster growth and learning on all fronts. The majority of staff at TEEEM proudly consist of educators, many of whom are or were NJEA members.
TEEEM offers high-quality professional development for teachers on topics ranging from fostering leadership and empathy within our students, encouraging social entrepreneurship vision and risk taking and learning from inspirational humanitarians working on the front lines within marginalized communities.
TEEEM also offers two leadership conferences for students that provide training and collaboration with other schools as students develop networks and share ideas.
Outside the classroom, TEEEM sponsors humanitarian service-based travel experiences to their global sites and offers scholarships to seniors who have learned to become active changemakers through their experience with TEEEM. While students and teachers gain much as a result of their involvement with TEEEM, the opportunities continue to expand.
Since joining forces with TEEEM, my Global Awareness Club has grown from its small beginnings to a flourishing group of over 60 students. Although we have chosen to channel the programs of TEEEM through a club, many schools do so through classes, specific units and even sports teams.
The beauty of TEEEM is its ability to cater to each school’s specific structure and desires. World language teachers have partnered with global sites that speak the language they study, middle school civics classes have incorporated global empathy units including TEEEM-designed lessons and high schools have placed students in dual-enrollment classes including Global Issues, Cross Cultural Perspectives and Social Entrepreneurship.
There is no cost to schools, students and teachers to join the TEEEM network.
Extending beyond school
Summer break is typically a time for students to disconnect from schoolwork, relax and unwind from a stressful academic year. However, because of the overwhelming demand and success of our morning joint tutoring sessions, we have extended our program throughout the last three summers. Totally driven by student interest and motivation, three of my club leaders developed a schedule, filled each session with our students and communicated with teachers and administrators in Kenya.
To see 20 smiling faces online at 7:30 a.m. on a summer day interacting with students from GRACE Academic Center is beyond exciting. My students and their friends from other area high schools even started to incorporate some Spanish and French mini learning sessions. We loved hearing our Kenyan students enthusiastically and proudly counting from one to 10 in Spanish or French. And on some mornings, they even get us to dance with them!
My hope is that my students will continue to build upon these tremendous experiences and nurture a lifelong desire to make the world a better, kinder place. Because of our strong ties to TEEEM, I have worked with countless students who have developed a passion for social issues and global equality rooted in empathy and forged by the leadership skills they crystallized while in high school.
Photo credits: TEEEM
Theodore Opderbeck has been a social studies teacher at Waldwick High School for 28 years where he teaches economics, law and society, and world history. He is an adviser to the Global Awareness and Photography clubs. He coaches the WHS varsity girls’ volleyball team and varsity boys’ tennis team. Opderbeck is the professional learning coordinator for The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission (TEEEM). He can be reached at opderbeckt@waldwickschools.org.
Connect with TEEEM
Interested in connecting your students, classes, and school with TEEEM?
Email TEEEM Executive Vice President Taylor DeMaio at taylor@teeem.org.
Visit TEEEM at teeem.org.
Follow @teeemglobal on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.