Area students receive grants to make difference in NEPA and beyond

Sarah Hofius Hall, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

Jun. 8—SCRANTON — A new grant source will help distribute menstruation products, turn plastic found along the Lackawanna River into art and tell stories on important local topics.

Grant recipients and community members gathered at the Century Club of Scranton on Thursday to celebrate the creation of the Global Development Project Fund, a program of the United Nations Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania, through the Scranton Area Community Foundation.

The fund supports projects in local schools and organizations that promote global awareness, citizenship and development and address U.N. sustainable development goals.

"When I look at your faces, I see the future," said Joe Riccardo, the fund's manager. "You can be agents for change, resources for improvement."

Grant recipients are:

* Abington Heights High School, the Period Club. Students will assemble and distribute menstruation products to people in need locally and in poor countries throughout the world. Students will engage in activities to change the conversation around menstruation and promote policy change to guarantee access to period products.

* Dunmore School District, PBS Student Report Labs Storymaker Project. Students will create news programs and mini-documentaries on influential events and topics occurring locally, nationally and globally. Programs will air on the district's TV channel and website and on other local public stations and social media venues.

* Riverside School District, Lackawanna River Indigenous Plant and Wildlife Conservation Education Project. The project will educate students about the significance of ecosystems and biodiversity through experiential research and art. Students will repurpose plastic waste from the Lackawanna River into artwork for public display in locations along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail.

* Hexagon Project, From Pennsylvania to the Pacific. The project will educate high school and middle school students from Lackawanna County on the biodiversity and ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean. In partnership with a school in San Bernardino, California, students from Scranton, Riverside and other local districts will engage in virtual field exercises, including the use of robotics to study the Pacific Ocean floor.

Each project will receive $1,000, except for Dunmore, which requested $700. In coming years, Riccardo wants to expand the number of recipients.

Abington Heights students founded the Period Club about five years ago and since then have worked to increase both access to menstrual products and education, including how the lack of products can impact access to education and economic opportunity.

The club's most recent "packing party" resulted in 130 kits, each with a cycle's worth of supplies, to provide to women in need. The club hopes to increase its impact even more, senior Maisy Earl said.

Riverside students said they are eager to help clean the river and make art to increase awareness.

"Hopefully people will stop littering," junior Starlette Cabral said.

Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9133; @hofiushallTT on Twitter.