Dream Sponsors Inc., a Wellington-based nonprofit organization, is collaborating with professional mentor and educator Darwyn Allen of the Mentorship Institute and Boca Raton High School to create a platform for educational and cultural exchange through an essay-writing competition.
Through the competition, 13 students from underserved communities in South Florida, who are graduating seniors of the Project Men Club or from Allen’s African-American history classes, will benefit from the collaboration.
Likewise, 13 ambitious, yet disadvantaged students from schools in western Kenya will be invited to participate. The Kenyan students will be selected by the Dream Sponsors advisory committee in Kenya. The goal is to award two winning students, one from the U.S. and one from Kenya, with an academic scholarship, as well as reward each of the participants with a meaningful and useful graduation gift.
Dream Sponsors invites the local community — organizations, businesses, family and friends — to help raise a total of $780 to purchase the graduation gifts chosen for the students. That is just $30 per student.
Academic scholarship funds for the winning student have already been donated by the Tom Neumann Allstate Agency in Wellington and by Dream Sponsors via reserve funds.
The intention of the effort is to provide tools and support for the students on both continents to reflect on themselves, and then capture in writing, a description of their personal and professional character, in preparation to introduce themselves to college recruiters or to the workplace. It also serves as a platform for cross-continental dialogue and education. The American and Kenya students will exchange their essays through the Dream Sponsors teams in Florida and Kenya, and each group of students will then vote on the entries from their counterparts. Winners will be announced by Dream Sponsors. Follow Dream Sponsors on Facebook for essay contest details and photo highlights.
Dream Sponsors is nonprofit based in Wellington with the mission to provide basic needs and school fees to orphans and vulnerable youth in Kenya and supporting educational advancement opportunities to disadvantaged youth in South Florida. For more info., call (561) 795-2223 or visit www.dreamsponsorsinc.org.
