Diving in to help

The peace on Earth side of the equation might still be unsolved, but members of the Community High School of West Chicago swim team did their part last month to at least see that goodwill toward men was alive and well during the holiday season.

On Dec. 2, 10 members of the high school swim team, along with members of the West Chicago Sharks, participated in a swimathon to raise money to help students in Angola in south-central Africa.

They raised more than $800, which will be used to help purchase supplies for the villagers in Sakutopi, Angola.

Sophomore Kelly Loftus and junior Rachel Howe initiated the event as a result of their Community Leadership class. Both are on the swim team and saw it as a great way to fulfill a class requirement while getting teammates involved in the WeGo 2 Africa project.

"I knew I wanted to get the swim team involved because that's one of our (class) goals is to get all the different parts of the school involved, like art club, swim team and basketball," Loftus said.

"I just brought it up at practice one day and I was surprised because almost everyone on the team said they would do it."

One person not surprised was Mary Ellen Daneels, who teaches the Community Leadership class. The WeGo 2 Africa project is now in its third year at the school and has taken on a life of its own. Students throughout the high school are actively involved.

"We develop their leadership skills and then we get community placements for them, and they do service within the community locally and individually," Daneels said.

"So it's applying their knowledge of what we teach them at school to real world problems and activities. They do that individually, and as a class we've taken on this global project WeGo 2 Africa."

Two years ago her class raised more than $10,000 to help build a school in Angola, which Daneels visited this past summer. The project has become a part of the school culture now, and the hard work of the swim team serves as an example for others who are looking for ways to help, Daneels said.

"The other sports teams and other clubs and activities in the building really have been looking for ways to contribute to the effort," she said. "In no way do I think that this is just going to be isolated to the swim team."

The swimathon itself consisted of two three-hour sessions as participants attained pledges and donations from supporters to cover their efforts. Several parents and friends were on hand to cheer on the swimmers, including Daneels herself, although she stopped short of actually getting in the pool.

"I was very diligent staying on the sidelines with a life preserver, if needed, and a very long pole," she said.

The Community Leadership class, however, does not stand on the sidelines. It strives, according to its mission statement, to "help rebuild communities in Angola with educational resources to facilitate learning, living and leadership."

Angola is a country about twice the size of Texas, with nearly 16 million people. War has ravaged the country in recent years, including its children, which is why so many Community High School students have done their share to help.

Homerooms have donated blankets, and a freshman geography class initiated a soccer equipment drive.

"One of the students read an article about land mine victims in Angola and how they started a team of amputees that play soccer," Daneels said.

Through their efforts, people brought soccer equipment, including shoes and jerseys, to soccer games, and it will be shipped to Angola this spring.

Little wonder Loftus and Howe urged their swim team to join the project. Although it helped them complete their class requirement and presentation, it also served to motivate swimmers who were not in the class to get more involved in WeGo 2 Africa.

"It was much more fun than we expected," Loftus said. "A lot of them are more involved in the project now. After the swimathon they were all talking about how fun it was, and they all just started coming up with more ideas for fundraisers."