The sound of sloshing water and determined footsteps returned to Lincoln Middle School this month. The school’s tradition of “Walk for Water” is officially back, and the 7th-grade class has made a splash that will be felt thousands of miles away.
Led by Lincoln Teachers Jett Applebaum, Justin Jonas, and Melissa Walters, the 7th graders took a three-mile trek to the Wildwood Nature Center. The students carried empty containers to the Wildwood pond, filled them with water, and carried the heavy weight back to school as a simulation of the daily journey made by thousands of children in South Sudan to secure water for their families.
The walk is the final part of an interdisciplinary unit. In Science, students explored the water cycle and the dangers of waterborne diseases. Math classes calculated personal water footprints, while Social Studies dove into the complex history and geography of South Sudan. In ELA, students read Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water, which tells the true story of Salva Dut, the founder of Water for South Sudan.
This year, Lincoln students set an ambitious goal to raise $10,000 to sponsor a well installation. They not only met the goal but shattered it! The community rallied to raise nearly $14,000. These funds will be sent to Water for South Sudan to drill a deep-tissue well in a remote village.
Lincoln Middle School already has its name etched into three wells in Warrap State, South Sudan, from previous years' efforts. With this year’s massive total, a fourth village will soon see "Lincoln Middle School" as its source of life-giving water.