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soccer donates jerseys to Liberia
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Donating from Huntley to Liberia schools
Donations of Huntley soccer jerseys help school children in Liberia By Sandra Skiba
In Liberia, Africa, a large group of boys are playing soccer. No team has the same jersey for everyone, making it slightly harder to differentiate who is on which team.
Marta Sobey is the JV2 soccer coach. She has been in contact with Innovative Education International for a few years now. This year she will be able to donate old soccer jerseys from Huntley to kids in Liberia.
Although the program is not primarily meant for jerseys or soccer, Huntley High School has the opportunity to contribute to it by doing so. The story behind why Huntley gets to donate jerseys this year started a few years back.
“I went to Liberia with Innovative Education International a few years ago. And since I was a soccer player, Courtesy of Marta Sobey
Marta Sobey visiting Liberia, posing with a tournament player. they took me to a tournament that they were doing where the boys were playing soccer, and the girls were playing kickball,” Sobey said. “It was rare that they had matching uniforms. So since I had a personal connection with the group through their work with the education side of it, and I had gone with them to see that, I reached out to IEI.”
After getting in touch and discussing with the executive director of IEI, Gary Friesen, they were able to arrange a donation from Huntley High School to Liberia. This generous donation gave a bit more joy to the kids
enjoying the sport.
“For seven years now, our organization, Innovative Education International, has sponsored an All-County Sports Tournament at the Greenville Stadium,” Friesen said. “Some schools have sponsors that provide uniforms. Other schools are not so fortunate, and these are the schools that will receive the Huntley uniforms. The uniforms will be highly valued and proudly worn by the players as they compete in front of their peers.”
Huntley wants to help other communities as much as possible with supplies that we already have in surplus. Donating to put a smile on kids’ faces is the least we can do.
“I think it’s so awesome to share our blessings with others who aren’t as fortunate,” varsity soccer Coach Matthew Lewandowski said.
The organization is a small one, not nearly as large as World Vision. It mostly circulates around local communities, and therefore cannot handle such a large bulk of jerseys but will receive as much as they need.
“If they have a need that continues, we can continue to give to them. Otherwise, we’ll find a different need for the uniforms and maybe help another group out,” Sobey said
These donations by Huntley are not the only way our community can help. IEI’s vision is to raise up a new generation who will lead their country into the future with integrity, courage, and competence.
Liberia is shown to have 62% of children missing out on primary school. Huntley can help IEI make a difference by donating.
IEI provides SmartBoxes to multiple schools in Liberia. They contain chromebooks with learning resources for the children.
Thesmartbox.net shows the impact that this technology has for children around the world who are not fortunate enough to have technology.
Currently, nine out of 15 counties in Liberia have SmartBoxes.
If you want to learn more about this program and how it works, visit iei3c.org. Donating can also be done online, which would help many kids in Liberia through Innovative Education International.
“The students in this remote region of Liberia are blessed that the Huntley school community cares for them,” Friesen said.
IEI received Huntley’s donation of soccer jerseys, also seen on the table are SmartBoxes they use to help children learn.
Courtesy of Garry Friesen
Blended opportunities, student fights, and vandalism were just a few of the issues that soon became the new normal for the student body of Huntley High School in 2021-22.
Anxieties ran high for both students and staff alike as the 2022 school year started, with expectations low.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Huntley High School was filled with spirit and pride, especially for upperclassmen.
Yet after online learning and time away from school, the atmosphere shifted. School became more about surviving each day, not participating in school spirit.
We are happy to notice that this year the level of respect, unity, and inclusion have exponentially increased from last year. Some of this may be due to the fact that expectations were set very early in the year, and the message was spread across all grade levels, not just underclassmen.
While slowly returning to a state of normalcy, administration has made it their mission to bring back the Red Raider pride that has been lost. “I think the physical setting of it just kind of propelled you into doing something different, like the cafeterias were normal. We also had seven days of the Raider Way schedule where we really focused on expectations,” principal Marcus Belin said.
The week of Raider Way lessons was a very important piece of the beginning of the year, as they introduced several new guidelines and announced several rules that would be relaxed. With heightened security measures and more staff, we ask the student body to continue to collaborate with administrators to maintain our school culture.
This year students are actually able to experience what it feels like to really be involved at the school. From Friday Night Lights, to Improv Night with the theater department, possibilities are endless. With more opportunities, students are ready to get involved in one way or another.
“I think the last few years have been really challenging, and I think we all went into this year with just a sense of hope of getting past a lot of that,” associate principal Danyce Letkewicz said. “Really being able to have fun and experience high school as we all want it to be without restrictions.”
Along with being academically involved, being active in school activities is just as important. The spirit that comes from being in the student section, pep assemblies, and Link Crew has really been felt this year. For many students, being a part of something means more than just cheers and applause; it means community, growth, and
School culture is slowly returning to normal, thanks to efforts from staff and students unity.
“I feel like [students] need to attend the football games and all the sporting events,” senior Jacob Tatkowski said. “Hanging out with friends inside and outside of school, it’s just going to make it a
lot better of an experience.” Security this year also plays into the expectations set for students. Last year students skipping class was one of the main issues, which led to the temporary disbanding of blended learning. This year, dean Justin Stroh, as well as the campus supervisors have framed a new tactic. “I know that the campus supervisors do what we call sweeps in the commons area during blended periods,” Stroh said. “It’s just making sure that students are where they should be.” The accountability that is held for students this year on many levels ranging from secu rity to academics is justified. We New school year, new have seen what attitude: keep it up! happens when our way of life is thrown out the window and it is important that we pick each other up along the way. “Internally, your peers drive so much of what you can do,” associate principal Tom Kempf said. “And when you see something positive, you want to be positive. You want to mirror that instead of that negativity that we saw [last year].” Everyone who calls themselves a member of Huntley High School can attest to the fact that to strengthen the school, we need to work together as a community. Compared to last year, we have started off with positivity, now it is the job of the student population to stay on the right track. S. Christenson
