Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of 10 features about clubs at Niles West.
It’s 7:30 a.m. and students slowly begin to walk into room 1730 on Wednesday, Sept. 9, with trays of delicious treats being carried in their hands. Art teacher Deanna Sortino is sitting at her desk, casually instructing and discussing with the students about the importance of their first UNICEF bake sale as everyone begins to sign in.
UNICEF, or United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, is a national program that focuses on aiding and protecting children nationally by fundraising.
“In UNICEF, everything fundraised is donated to help children worldwide. The fundraised money helps with things like providing kids with a better education, vaccinations, sanitation, and other children’s rights,” sophomore member Zoha Ullah said.
UNICEF is new to Niles West this year. It all started last year in Sortino’s Advanced and AP 2-D Design classes. Sortino assigned the students to write infographics for UNICEF’s Nicaragua project and from there, UNICEF became a thing students looked forward to doing.
“It was probably a month in a half long project in the classroom when we were working with Nicaragua, but I think the kids took so much away from it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. The positive feedback we got from that made us really excited and eager to get UNICEF going at Niles West,” Sortino said.
UNICEF already has 60 members, yet students continue to join every day. Students find UNICEF a way to return their good fortune and reach out to the community.
“I really admire UNICEF’s promise to actually aid in improving the less fortunate children’s lives. Not only does UNICEF raise awareness to global issues, every penny they raise goes directly to providing essential resources that they normally don’t have access to,” Ullah said.
UNICEF is not solely limited to high school; there is a UNICEF program, called UNICEF Next Generation, available even in college. UNICEF is such a dedication that many students take part in it throughout the rest of their life.
“UNICEF is pretty much a life-long commitment. It’s really important to stay committed to it throughout your life and to make sure that you’re promoting it, advocating for it, and basically continuing to help out,” UNICEF president Tammy Wen said.
If you are interested in joining UNICEF, contact Sortino at [email protected].
