Teacher travels to Peru to donate thousands of books

When it’s time for the school year to start, many kids and teens in America are less than excited for the long days of learning. On the other hand, children in Peru would give anything to have the opportunity to learn. From June 18-27, physics and STEM teacher Judith Stucky traveled to Peru to donate thousands of books to a school in need.

“The president of the Nebraska Association of Teachers asked me to apply for an award and I had no idea what was involved at the time,” Stucky said. “But, I applied and I won, then I also won at the national level. The Nebraska Association of Teachers picked a teacher from each state that was then trained in Washington DC. There was also a huge gala that was held where we raised a lot of funds for the trip to Peru.”

Each representative went through global learning training, exploring the interconnections between people and places around the world. They asked them to observe the similarities and differences that exist around our world today and relate these to their own lives.

“The main fundraising I did was from Indiegogo Online – the largest global crowdfunding and fundraising site online,” Stucky said. “I contributed and then I challenged my friends, family and co-workers to raise money for Peru and that is what all of us representatives did.”

There were 34 teachers from all over the nation involved in the raising of this money, and all together the group raised a little over $8,000 for children’s books.

“The school that we brought the books to is a relatively new school that was built by a charity in a village, so that the children that want to go to school do not have to walk the far distance into the capital city,” Stucky said.

When comparing countries using international testing, Peru has traditionally been last. They strived to build school buildings for the children, but forgot one important thing.

“The people in Peru built the school buildings, but then they had no books,” Stucky said. “All of the money we raised was spent on kindergarten through 6th grade bilingual books. Not textbooks, but storybooks that they could read and learn from.”