SCF Collegiate School spearheads clean-water initiative

SCF Collegiate School

With one in 10 people worldwide lacking access to clean water, State College of Florida (SCF) Collegiate School started an initiative to teach young students about the issues of clean water supplies.

Eighth-grade students Julie Stivers and Kea Kamiya are part of the initiative who, along with their classmates, have helped raise nearly $11,000 since September. This is enough money to ensure that at least one community in a developing country will have drinkable water for its families.

SCF Collegiate School, working with Charity Water – a nonprofit organization dedicated to bring safe and clean drinking water to developing countries -- has raised enough money to fully fund a drilled well, spring protection or BioSand Filter. These are all necessary ingredients in providing water to communities in need.

The students have learned that, outside of health problems associated with contaminated water, many who live in developing countries have to walk hours a day to gather water – a task that keeps many children, especially young girls, out of school.

“This is not okay,” Stivers said. “When I think about the opportunities I have, including the chance to go to college, I can’t imagine that some girls don’t get to do these things because they have to get water.”