Introduction:

The social issue we identified at Conn Elementary School is not just unique to the school

itself; it is a community issue. Access to clean water is not consistent throughout the world, and

children and adults need to be made aware of the inconsistencies. In America we are lucky to

have clean water at our fingertips wherever we go. Clean water comes out of faucets we use to

wash our hands and brush our teeth, it

comes out of our shower heads, it comes out

of water fountains, and it even is found in

our toilets! While we never have to worry

about where we will get our water from or if

it will make us sick, many people who live

in developing countries have to think about these things daily. The social issue we identified in

our school and community is the need for an increase in awareness about these differences in

access to clean water.

This lack of awareness is problematic due to the fact that if someone is unaware that a

problem exists, there is no way they can become a part of the solution. Six hundred and sixty-

three million people lack access to clean water. Among these people are many school age

children that must walk miles for water every day carrying jugs that weigh nearly 40 pounds.

The amount of time it takes to obtain clean water limits the amount of time children spend

receiving an education. Not being able to attend school ends up limiting children' oppurtunities

as adults and forces them to continue living in poverty for their entire lives. Elementary students

may be young, but they are not powerless and can make a huge difference in the world around

them if they are given the opportunity to do so. The best way for elementary students to help end
this water crisis is through making them aware of the problem and encouraging them to support

organizations like charity: water. Charity: water partners with local communities to bring them

clean water through the building of wells and pipes.

Action Plan:

The social action steps we plan to take to address the inconsistencies of water access

globally begin with creating awareness. It is difficult for most people in a developed country to

imagine a life without clean water because of how easily accessible it is—many buildings and

venues in America are required to contain a water fountain for users. We will need to carefully

draw a picture to show the access to water we have in America is a privilege not all countries

have. To draw this picture, we plan on using online resources from charity: water’s website.

Charity: water was founded in 2006 as a nonprofit organization that develops ways to bring clean

and safe drinking water to developing countries. There are many great things that attracted us to

charity: water. For one, the organization does a great job of not creating an us versus them

mindset. Instead, it looks at the sheer fact that 663 million people worldwide do not have access

to clean water, and charity: water has resources and employees capable of providing technology

to help decrease this number. It is not an organization that prides themselves in “saving” people

in developing countries, but it is an organization that is practical about working alongside local

governments and professionals to provide the most feasible technology to the countries it works

with. In addition to the mission of charity: water, we were attracted to the resources hosted on

the organization’s website. Specifically, the website has resources designed for children and

teachers which is just what we were looking for. We love the way the organization approaches

the challenge of making this global issue make a little more sense for young children.
 That being said, we will collaborate with charity: water for our action plan. One of the

many resources the organization created for children and teachers is suggestions on how to get

involved in making a difference. Hosting a water walk is one of the ideas the organization

suggests, and we have decided to host a schoolwide water walk. Water walks are designed not

only to raise awareness of the global water crisis, but also to make the crisis more tangible for

those not experiencing consistent water insecurities. Basically, participants will carry relatively

heavy containers of water. Jerry cans, a container used in many developing countries to

transport and store water, weigh about 40 pounds. This is

obviously very heavy for a young child to carry, so the

containers will have to be adapted to be done at the elementary

school level. The goal of the water walk is to show just a

snippet of what it is like to travel long distances while

transporting a container of water. A water walk only shows a

snippet of the reality of many people in developing countries

because it is only a short journey in comparison to the hours spent walking in a country with

water insecurity.

Conn Elementary is currently on a modular campus with paths to connect the mobile

units, so this arrangement provides an ideal path for our water walk to take place. Because we

intend on doing this water walk schoolwide, we will need the support of administration in order

to get all teachers on board. It is not likely all teachers will be excited to participate initially; we

are aware of the intimidation of doing such an involved activity with the entire school. They

may relay pushback to administration which is why we need to ensure administration values the

purpose of the water walk. Ideally, all teachers will present the informational presentation about
 charity: water at the beginning of the week

to get students excited for the water walk the

following Friday. Parents will be invited to

attend the water walk because this will help

reinforce the purpose of spreading awareness

of charity: water. Additionally, students,

staff, and parents will be encouraged to

donate what they can to support the

organization. We will have designated times for certain grade levels to participate in the water

walk to help encourage teachers. A proposed schedule of implementation can be found below:

Date Goal

3/23/20 Propose idea of water walk to administration:

Show the presentation teachers will be
required to share with students along with
photographs of water walks from charity:
water website. Present planned path for the
water walk as well as materials needed. Share
a tentative schedule of times.

4/6/20 After approved by administration, introduce to

teachers at a staff meeting. Show the same
things administration was shown and ask
teachers to submit any potential issues they
see arising as well as suggestions.

4/13/20 Teachers should present the informational

slideshow to their classes. Notes should be
sent home to tell families about the event
taking place later in the week.

4/17/20 Water walk takes place! Families come out to

support and donate what they can!
Implementation:

We began to implement our social action plan by beginning at a small scale, in our

second grade classroom. We brought awareness to our students about the water crisis by

presenting to them a PowerPoint created by charity: water. The PowerPoint explained the

unequal access to water around the world in terms that second graders would be able to

understand. After presenting the slideshow and asking them guiding questions throughout to both

assess their knowledge and help them understand the magnitude of the issue, we had them create

thank you cards for the charity. The simple task of writing thank you cards is one way children

can contribute to combating water insecurities around the world. Their support of a cause that

makes a difference is encouragement to that cause to continue doing what they are doing.

Through the beginning implementations of our social action plan, we were able to see our

students’ interest in the topic and their passion towards making a difference. Due to our class’s

interest, we thought this would be a social issue other students in the school would be interested

in as well. Thus, we were inspired to bring awareness of this issue to the entire school

community and plan a water walk. Our future step after presenting our plan to administration,

bringing awareness, and hosting a schoolwide water walk is to extend our mission even further

outward. We plan to have students in our class create videos about the water crisis and lack of

access to clean water in some parts of the world. In the videos, there may also be clips from the

water walk we hosted. We will post these videos online to allow the public to see and thus be

able to bring awareness of the issue to even more people. If kids see other kids making a

difference, they may be inspired to make a difference, too. More awareness means more people

involved in the solution, and maybe one day our small school water walk will be able to end

water insecurity for all!