AEC joins PenPal Schools

For the first time, Alternative Education Center, Odessa, TX, joined PenPal Schools this month to interact with other schools in the world on curricular activities that support global sustainable development goals. The first activity students from the Alternative Education Center participated in was Financial Literacy and Money Management. AEC students interacted with other students from all over the world as they completed the following assignments: Meet PenPals!, Earning Money, Spending Money, Saving Money, Borrowing Money, Reflection, and Project. As their culminating activity, students wrote an essay, discussing how the activity helped meet the global goal of sustainable cities and communities. 

PenPal Schools connects students from different countries to make friends and discover the world. Students interact with PenPals from various countries to read, write, collaborate, and create original projects on topics that are relevant to them and the world. All PenPal Schools topics can be integrated into core classroom lessons and utilized to promote the global sustainable development goals.

AEC donates used clothes, grocery items to Philippines

Alternative Education Center, Odessa, TX donated a box of used clothes and grocery items to a village in the Philippines affected by Typhoon Odette (known internationally as Typhoon Rai) that hit the country on December 12-22, 2021, with 410 total fatalities and 80 people missing according to international news.

Principal Adam Portillo volunteered to donate bags of used but decent clothes and shoes. IJWC adviser bought some grocery items and paid for the shipping fee. The package was sent to the Philippines through a cargo shipping service early this month, which may be delivered to the recipients a little late due to COVID. 

No poverty is the leading global sustainable development goal. Sharing blessings especially with poor countries like in Asia is one of the many ways we can help meet this global goal. By modeling it, students will see and apply the value of the noble and humanitarian gesture of sharing. Blessings to be shared do not need to be material or expensive as long as they come from the heart, wrapped with good intentions.

AEC celebrates International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Alternative Education Center in Odessa, TX joined the world in commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, 2021, with the theme, "Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now!" Students studied world data of women who experienced violence by their intimate partners from 1990 to 2017. They identified and discussed countries that had the highest cases of women violence and the cultural backgrounds of these countries. They also made posters about the celebration and wrote essays about how the event could help meet the global sustainable development goals of gender equality and reduced inequalities. 

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women marks the launch of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign (Nov 25- Dec 10) — an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on the day that commemorates the International Human Rights Day (10 December). This campaign aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world, calling for global action to increase awareness, promote advocacy, and create opportunities for discussion on challenges and solutions.

AEC integrates SDG into Red Ribbon Week

Alternative Education Center students integrated the global sustainable development goals of good health and well-being (SDG 3) and peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16) into their celebration of the Red Ribbon Week on October 25-29, 2021. They completed an academic poster puzzle coloring activity, watched online global initiatives for drug abuse and addiction prevention, and wrote an essay if the War on Drugs program results in good health and well-being and peace, justice, and strong institutions. Students also participated in the Door Decoration Contest while teachers and staff dressed up for the Red Ribbon Spirit Week. This year's theme for the National Red Ribbon Week is "Drug-Free Looks Like Me," which serves as a reminder that Americans across the country make significant daily contributions to their communities by being the best they can be because they live drug-free.

AEC celebrates world's democracy day

Alternative Education Center students celebrated International Day of Democracy on September 15, 2021. They studied Vanhanen's Index of Democracy from 1820 to 2000 by mathematically and algebraically describing trends of political participation and electoral competition from various regions in the world and completing a coloring democracy math puzzle. They also engaged in a democracy debate using Kialo and a Q & A activity using Packback, discussing how democracy means to them, their community, and the world and how it can help meet and sustain the global sustainable development goal of peace, justice, and strong institutions.

The International Day of Democracy is celebrated annually to provide an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. The values of freedom, respect for human rights, and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies, civil society, and individuals can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere.